Computer Mouse

A computer mouse is a small handheld tool that you use to control a computer. When you slide the mouse across a desk, a pointer called a cursor moves across the screen in the same direction. You click the buttons on the mouse to open files, pick things, or give the computer commands. The mouse is one of the most common ways people tell a computer what to do.

The first computer mouse was invented in 1964 by an American engineer named Douglas Engelbart. It was a chunky wooden block with two metal wheels on the bottom. He called it a "mouse" because the cord coming out the back looked like a tail. For almost twenty years, almost nobody used one. Computers back then mostly used typed commands instead.

That changed in the 1980s, when companies like Apple and Microsoft built computers with pictures, windows, and menus on the screen. Suddenly people needed a way to point at things. The mouse was perfect for the job, and it became part of almost every home computer.

Modern mice do not have rolling balls inside anymore. Most use a tiny red or invisible light, called an optical or laser sensor, that watches the desk surface and tracks how the mouse moves. Many mice today have no cord at all. They send signals through the air using radio waves or Bluetooth.