Human Eye and the colorful world
Cornea: - The transparent, spherical portion that forms the front most part of the eye.
Iris: - The colored muscular diaphragm, with an opening at its center, situated in front of the eye
lens.
Pupil: - The opening at the center of the iris, through which light enters the eye.
Note: - The muscles of iris adjust the size of pupil so as to regulate the amount of light entering
the eye.
Eye Lens: - The flexible lens made of transparent, gelatinous proteins, that causes the image
formation in the eye.
Retina: - A delicate membrane consisting of enormous light sensitive cells, where the image
formed by the eye lens is captured.
Optic nerves: - A bunch of nerves, which carry the electrical signals from the light sensitive
cells of retina to brain.
Accommodation: - The ability of the eye lens to adjust its focal length is called accommodation.
Near point: - The minimum distance at which eye can see the object most distinctly without any
strain is called near point or Least Distance of Distinct Vision. For a healthy eye, the near point
is 25cm in front of the eye.
Far point: - The farthest distance up to which the eye can see objects clearly is called far point.
For a healthy eye, the far point is at infinity.
Cataract: - A defect of vision, often occurring in old ages, in which the crystalline eye lens
becomes milky or cloudy, causing partial or complete loss of vision.
The refractive defects of vision
Myopia: - The defect of vision, in which a person can see nearby objects clearly, but cannot
see the distant objects distinctly.
In this case, far point of the eye is less than infinity. Image of a distant object is formed in front
of the retina.
Causes: - a) Excessive curvature of the eye lens
b) Elongation of the eyeball
Correction: - A Concave lens of appropriate power.
Hypermetropia: - The defect of vision, in which a person can see distant objects clearly, but
cannot see the nearby objects distinctly.
In this case, near point of the eye is beyond 25cm. Image of a nearby object is formed behind the
retina.
Causes: - a) Focal length of the eye lens being too large.
b) Eye ball being too small
Correction: - A Convex lens of appropriate power.
Presbyopia: - The defect of vision in which, the power of accommodation decreases due to
ageing.
In this case, usually, the near point recedes away.
Causes: - a) weakening of ciliary muscles
b) Diminishing flexibility of eye lens
Note: - If a person is suffering from both hypermetropia and myopia simultaneously, a bifocal
lens is used to correct his vision. The upper part of the lens will be concave, to correct distant
vision, and the lower part will be convex, to correct the near vision.
Refraction of light through a prism
Dispersion: - Splitting up of a composite light into its constituent colors is called dispersion.
Note: - Since different colors of light travels with different speeds in a medium, the refractive
index of a medium will be different for different colors. That is, for a given angle of incidence,
different colors will have different values of refraction. There for they undergo dispersion and
produce the spectrum.
Atmospheric refraction: - The refraction of light caused by earth’s atmosphere is called
atmospheric refraction.
Scattering: - The dispersal of light in a range of angles, due to physical interaction with particles
or air molecules is called scattering.
Tyndall effect: - The phenomenon in which light scatters along its path in atmosphere or
colloidal solutions, making the beam of light visible, is called Tyndall effect.
