system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Eli5: how can picking a lock break the lock?
gpt
You'd have to break your pick.  
A typical key lock involves a bunch of vertical pins in vertical holes.  
A key pushes those pins to the right height so you can turn the key.  
Lock picking involves pushing those pins up and turning to try to get the pins to stick in the right height.  
But if you really screw up, you can break the thing you were using to push up the pin, and it get's stuck in the vertical hole.  
So the pin isn't in the right position and you might not even be able to put a key in at all.