CHAPTER - 10
THE HUMAN EYE AND THE
COLOURFUL WORLD
THE HUMAN EYE
a) Structure of the human eye :
The human eye is the sense organ which helps us to see the
colourful world around us. The human eye is like a camera.
Its lens system forms an image on a light sensitive screen called
retina. The eye lens helps to focus the image of objects on the retina.
The eye ball is almost spherical in shape with a diameter of about
2.3cm.
Light enters the eye through a transparent membrane called cornea.
Behind the cornea is a muscular diaphragm called iris which has
an opening called pupil. The pupil controls the amount of light entering
the eye.
The ciliary muscles helps to change the curvature of the lens and to
change its focal length.
b) Working of the eye :
The eye lens forms a real inverted image of the object on the
retina. The light sensitive cells in the retina then produce electrical
signals which are carried by the optic nerves to the brain. The brain
processes the information and sends the message to the eye and then
we see the object.
c) Power of accomodation of the eye :-
The ability of the eye lens to see both near and distant objects by
adjusting its focal length is called the power of accommodation of the
eye.
The eye lens is composed of a fibrous jelly like material. Its curvature
can be changed to some extent by the ciliary muscles. The change in
the curvature of the eye lens can change its focal length.
When the muscles are relaxed, the lens becomes thin and its focal
length increases and when the muscles contract, the lens becomes
thick and its focal length decreases.
d) Near point :-
The minimum distance at which the eye can see objects clearly is
called the near point or least distance of distinct vision. For a normal
eye it is 25cm.
e) Far point :-
The farthest distance upto which the eye can see objects clearly is
called the far point of the eye. For a normal eye it is between 25cm and
infinity.
Defects of Vision
And
their correction
(i) Myopia / Near Sightedness
Myopia is a defect of vision in which a person can see
nearby objects clearly but cannot see distant objects
clearly because the image is formed in front of the
retina.
Reason : This may be due to :
i) Increase in curvature of the eye lens
ii) Increase in the length of the eye ball
Correction :
It can be corrected by using suitable concave lens.
f=-S
(ii) Hypermetropia / Far sightedness
Hypermetropia is a defect of vision in which a person
can see distant objects clearly but cannot see nearby
objects clearly because the image is formed behind the
retina.
Reason : This may be due to :
i) Decrease in curvature of eye lens
ii) Decrease in the length of the eye ball .
Correction : It can be corrected by using a suitable convex
lens.
f = (D´• D) / D´ – D
iii) Presbyopia :-
Presbyopia is a defect of vision in old people in
which they are not able to see nearby objects clearly
due to the increase in the distance of near point.
This is due to the weakening of the ciliary muscles
and decrease in the flexibility of the eye lens with
ageing.
It can be corrected by using suitable convex lens.
Bifocal lenses :Sometimes they are not able to see both
nearby and
distant objects clearly.
It can be corrected by using bifocal lenses consisting of
both concave and convex lenses.
The upper part is concave for correction of distant vision
and the lower part is convex for correction of near vision.
4) Refraction of light through a glass prism :-
When a ray of light passes through a glass prism, it gets bent
twice at the air- glass interface and glass- air interface.
The emergent ray is deviated by an angle to the incident ray.This
angle is called the angle of deviation.
5a) Dispersion of white light by a glass prism :-
R
O
Y
G
Spectrum
B
Beam of white light I
V
Glass prism
When a beam of white light is passed through a glass
prism, it splits up into seven constituent colours. This is
called dispersion of white light.
The band of these seven colours is known as spectrum.
The red light bends the least and the violet light bends the
most.
b) Recombination of the spectrum of white light
produces white light :-
White light
R R R
V
White light V V
Glass prisms
When a beam of white light is passed through a glass
prism, it is split up into its component colours.
When these colours are allowed to fall on an inverted
glass prism it recombines to produce white light.
c) Rainbow formation :-
Raindrop
Sunlight
Refraction and dispersion
Internal reflection
Refraction
Red Violet
Observer
A rainbow is a natural spectrum appearing in the sky after a
rain shower. It is caused by the dispersion of sunlight by water
droplets present in the atmosphere.
The water droplets act like small prisms. They refract and
disperse the sunlight then reflect it internally and finally refract it
again when it comes out of the rain drops. Due to the dispersion
of sunlight and internal reflection by the water droplets we see
the rainbow colours.
7) Scattering of light
● Scattering of light is a phenomenon of
spreading of light by the atoms or
molecules of the medium, when it
passes from a medium which contains
tiny particles.
● The intensity of the scattered light
depends on the size of the particles and
the wavelength of the light.
● Very fine particles scatter blue light.
Larger particles scatter different colours
of light.
● The earth’s atmosphere contains air molecules, water droplets, dust,
smoke etc. When sunlight passes through the atmosphere the path
of the light becomes visible due to the scattering of light by these
particles.
i) Tyndall effect :-
When a beam of light passes through a colloidal solution,
the path of light becomes visible due to the scattering of light
by the colloidal particles. This is known as Tyndall effect.
ii) Why is the colour of the clear sky blue ?
The fine particles in the atmosphere have size smaller
than the wavelength of visible light. They can scatter blue
light which has a shorter wavelength than red light which
has a longer wavelength.
When sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the fine
particles in the atmosphere scatter the blue colour more
strongly than the red and so the sky appears blue.
● If the earth had no atmosphere there would not
be any scattering of light and the sky would
appear dark. The sky appears dark at very high
altitudes.
● The sky appears dark to passengers flying at
very high altitudes, as scattering is not
prominent at such heights.
● The ‘danger’ signal lights are red in colour. The
red is least scattered by fog or smoke. Therefore,
it can be seen in the same colour at a distance.
iii) Colour of the sky at sunrise and sunset :-
Sun overhead
Blue light scattered away
Observer Atmosphere
Sun appears reddish
Sun near Earth
horizon
At sunrise and at sunset the sun is near the
horizon and the light from the sun travels through
the thicker layers of the atmosphere and longer
distance through the atmosphere.
Near the horizon most of the blue light and
shorter wave lengths are scattered away by the
particles of the air and the red light and longer
wave lengths reaches our eyes.
So the sun appears reddish at sunrise and
sunset.
NCERT exercise
