Why do things look blurry through a magnifying glass?

Answer 1

I think the answer could be that each magnifying glass has what is known as a focal point, where an object being looked at can be seen clearly when it is at the focal point.

If the object being looked at is outside that point it will look blurry. One also has to take into consideration the quality of the magnifying glass.

Robert

Answer 2

A magnifying glass makes things look larger by bending the rays of light into a conical shape where they all converge to a focal point. Beyond that point, the rays keep going, and begin to diverge in a cone of the opposite shape.

Each ray of light passes in a straight line thru the focal point, so a ray from the top of the lens passed downward thru the focal point and beyond the focal point ends up on the bottom. A ray from the bottom of the lens passes thru the focal point and ends up beyond the focal point on the top. Rays from the left or right side of the lens also pass thru the focal point and beyond that point end up on the opposite side as well.

So the image you see beyond the focal point is not only upside down, it is also flipped left to right. Every point of light reaching the lens ends up exactly on the opposite side of the lens' center, when the light passes the focal point.

Answer 3

Probably because it is out of focus.