How does a mouse work?

The Mouse

is an hand held device that is used for carrying out various tasks in the computer, such as:

• Point to and select objects on the screen.
• Select and/or move data or files by dragging and dropping.
• Execute programs and shortcuts, or open files.
• Scroll application windows or web pages by clicking and holding a scroll bar or by moving the mouse wheel (third button wheel on some mouse models).

The mouse is divided into 3 parts, which includes;

• Left click button
• Scroll button
• Right click button

All different parts has their own functions, we will mention some of them as we proceed.. the right click is used for clicking, double clicking, click and hold and dragging and many more. the scroll button also has its own features, with the help of this button a user is able to navigate a page or a website simply my rolling the button up and down. While the right click button is used for displaying properties among other options and many more. The right mouse button is often used to open contextual menus, which are pop-up menus that change depending where you click/ which option you selecting.

 

A mechanical mouse is a computer mouse containing a metal or rubber ball on its under side. When the ball is rolled in any direction, sensors inside the mouse detect the motion and move the on-screen mouse pointer accordingly. The picture is an example of the bottom of a mechanical mouse with the ball removed. Today, this mouse has been replaced by the optical mouse. A mechanical mouse is susceptible to dust particles and other debris getting on the ball and preventing the mouse from working.

Optical mouse The optical mouse is a computer mouse first introduced by Microsoft on April 19, 1999, that utilizes LEDs (light-emitting diodes) or a laser to track or detect movement. These differing technologies are identified by examining the bottom of the mouse. As shown, the optical-mechanical mouse has a ball, and the optical mouse has a light instead.
An optical mouse is a computer mouse which uses a light source, typically a light-emitting diode (LED), and a light detector, such as an array of photodiodes, to detect movement relative to a surface. Variations of the optical mouse have largely replaced the older mechanical mouse design, which uses moving parts to sense motion.
Modern surface-independent optical mice work by using an optoelectronic sensor (essentially, a tiny low-resolution video camera) to take successive images of the surface on which the mouse operates.
Optical mice don't work as well on reflective surfaces such as glass tables, and require a mouse pad to work properly.
Although not all optical mice use red, it's the most common LED used because it's often the cheaper diode and because the photodetectors are more sensitive to red light.
Unlike mechanical mice, whose tracking mechanisms can become clogged with lint, optical mice have no moving parts (besides buttons and scroll wheels); therefore, they do not require maintenance other than removing debris that might collect under the light emitter. However, they generally cannot track on glossy and transparent surfaces, including some mouse-pads, causing the cursor to drift unpredictably during operation. Mice with less image-processing power also have problems tracking fast movement, whereas some high-quality mice can track faster than 2 m/s.

How does a mouse work?
Process of pointing and pressing the left mouse button is known as clicking. To start any software you should point at the icon & quickly press the left mouse button twice. This process is called as double clicking. Dragging consists of clicking on file/folder/something, but instead of releasing the left mouse button keeping it pressed down & then dragging the item you selected by rolling your mouse on your mouse pad.

Similar to dragging, you select text/word by clicking & holding the left mouse button down at the begging of the text/word you want to select & dragging your mouse pointer to the end of the text/word. As you select text/word highlights it by placing a black background behind it.

Source: Few websites, Wikipedia...