Doesn't look like much, does it? It certainly didn't look like much when Debbie pulled hers out at year two camp at Rowan University a few years back, but it was fascinating enough that I hunted down one of my own.
What you see there is a piece of fiberoptic glass, flat on top and bottom and tapered from a circle at the 'bottom' to a widened rectangle at the top.
When the glass is placed on a piece of paper, like our crystal structure periodic table, here's what it does.
With no batteries, no source of external light, it either magnifies (if the widened end is upward) or shrinks (if the narrow, circular end is upward) the image underneath the glass. In enlarging, it does seemingly fade the image a bit - which makes sense as the light is being spread out. In shrinking the image, it almost 'densifies' or 'concentrates' the image which again makes sense to me.
I haven't found a great way to use this item in our material science curriculum as much more than a neat curiosity object, but it's fascinating to have.
And, in case you wanted to take the route I took in trying to find one of your own, here's the info printed on the back of the magnifier.
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