Final answer:
To see underwater without a face mask, glasses with a diverging lens should be used, as they correct for the distortion of light passing from water to air, similar to the correction for nearsightedness.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you want special glasses designed to let you see underwater without a face mask, you should use a diverging lens. This is because the corrective mechanism for nearsightedness, which is similar to the underwater vision problem, requires a diverging eyeglass lens. When light passes from water to air, it bends away from the normal due to the change in refractive index. To correct for this, the glasses should diverge the light rays so that they can be appropriately focused on the retinas inside the eyes.
Remember, a diverging lens corrects nearsightedness by reducing the optical power of an eye that over converges light rays. This principle is applicable underwater where objects appear blurry because light rays bend when transitioning from water to air. A diverging lens compensates for this effect by forming an image that is closer to the eye than the actual object, enabling clearer underwater vision.