Tweezers are tools used for picking up small objects that are not easily managed or handled with the human hands. They are probably derived from tongs, pincers, or scissors-like pliers used to grab or hold hot objects from the dawn of recorded history.

Two sticks would be used to pinch another stick over a stone age fire. There is evidence of Roman shipbuilders pulling nails out of construction with plier-type pincers. There are drawings of Egyptian craftsmen holding hot pots over ovens with a double-bow shaped tool.

Tweezers make use of two third-class levers connected at one fixed end, with the pincers at the others. The tweezers are typically manuveured over the item, and the tweezers are pinched by the fingers in the middle, with the pincers taking the object between them.

Optical Tweezers use light to manipulate microscopic objects as small as a single atom. The radiation pressure from a focused laser beam is able to trap small particles. In the biological sciences, these instruments have been used to apply forces in the pico Newton range and to measure displacements in the nm range of objects ranging in size from 10 nm to over 100 mm.

Magnetic Tweezers use magnetic forces to manipulate single molecules (such as DNA) via paramagnetic interactions. In practice it is an array of magnetic traps designed for manipulating individual biomolecules and measuring the ultrasmall forces that affect their behavior.

Tweezers have many uses, such as in the manual construction or repair of many things such as models, clockwork, surface mount electronics; or in cosmetics for plucking eyebrows.

Electronics work tools

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