a light microscope uses optical lenses to magnify objects by

How does a microscope magnify the image of an object?

It’s all about refraction ( a fancy term which means bending light)… The lenses in the microscope bend the light before it enters your eye so that it looks as though it comes from a much bigger object. Draw a horizontal line and put a dot on the left of the line to indicate your eye. On the right of the line put a vertical stick (so its base is on the line). Now join the top of the line to your eye. That’s a light ray entering your eye from the top of the stick. Now make the stick much bigger. and do the same thing. Notice that as the stick gets bigger the angle between the horizontal line and the light ray from the top of the stick and your eye gets bigger too. If you can change the angle as light enters your eye things will look biger. That’s what the lens does.