Editing Magnifying glass (section)

{{Short description|Convex lens used to magnify images}}
{{redirect|Hand lens|a magnifying device held close to the eye|Loupe}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2010}}
[[File:Mag glass request.jpg|thumb|A pen seen through a magnifying glass]]
[[File:Jim Hutton Ellery Queen 1976.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Jim Hutton]] as detective [[Ellery Queen]], posing with a magnifying glass]]
A '''magnifying glass''' is a [[Lens (optics)#Types of simple lenses|convex lens]]—usually mounted in a frame with a handle—that is used to produce a [[magnification|magnified]] [[image]] of an object. A magnifying glass can also be used to focus light, such as to concentrate the Sun's radiation to create a hot spot at the [[Focus (optics)|focus]] for fire starting.

Evidence of magnifying glasses exists from antiquity. The magnifying glass is an icon of [[detective fiction]], particularly that of [[Sherlock Holmes]].

An alternative to a magnifying glass is a '''sheet magnifier''', which comprises many very narrow concentric ring-shaped lenses, such that the combination acts as a single lens but is much thinner.