The Human Eye and the Colourful World
Class 10 Notes
Table of Contents
The Human Eye
Power of Accommodation
Defects of Vision and Their Correction
1. Myopia
2. Hypermetropia
3. Presbyopia
Refraction of Light Through a Prism
Dispersion of White Light by a Glass Prism
Recombination of White Light
Rainbow Formation
Atmospheric Refraction
Twinkling of Stars
Why don't the planets twinkle?
Advance Sunrise and Delayed Sunset
Scattering of Light
Tyndall Effect
Why is the color of the clear Sky Blue?
The Human Eye
The human eye is like a camera. Its lens system forms an
image on a light-sensitive screen called the retina.
The Human Eye
Light enters the eye through a thin membrane called
the cornea. It forms the transparent bulge on the front
surface of the eyeball. Most of the refraction for the light
rays entering the eye occurs at the outer surface of the
cornea.
The crystalline lens provides the finer adjustment of the
focal length required to focus objects at different
distances on the retina. We find a
structure called the iris behind the cornea. Iris is a dark
muscular diaphragm that controls the size of the pupil.
The pupil regulates and controls the amount of light
entering the eye. The eye lens (convex lens) forms an
inverted real image of the object on the retina.
The retina is a delicate membrane having enormous
number of light-sensitive cells. The light-sensitive cells
get activated upon illumination and generate electrical
signals. These signals are sent to the brain via the optic
nerves. The brain interprets these signals, and finally,
processes the information so that we perceive objects as
they are. Power of Accommodation
The eye lens is composed of a fibrous, jelly-like material.
Its curvature can be modified to some extent by the ciliary
muscles. The change in the curvature of the eye lens can
thus change its focal length.
When the muscles are relaxed, the lens becomes thin.
Thus, its focal length increases. This enables us to
see distant objects clearly.
When you are looking at objects closer to the eye, the
ciliary muscles contract. This increases the curvature
of the eye lens. The eye lens then becomes thicker.
Consequently, the focal length of the eye lens
decreases. This enables us to see nearby objects
clearly.
Power of Accommodation: The ability of the eye lens to
adjust its focal length is called accommodation.
Near point of the eye:
The minimum distance, at which objects can be seen
most distinctly without strain, is called the least
distance of distinct vision.
For a young adult with normal vision, the near point is
about 25 cm.
Far point of the eye:
The farthest point up to which the eye can see objects
clearly is called the far point of the eye.
It is infinity for a normal eye.
Cataract:
Sometimes, the crystalline lens of people in old age
becomes milky and cloudy. This condition is called
cataract. This causes a partial or complete loss of
vision.
It is possible to restore vision through a cataract
surgery.
Defects of Vision and Their Correction
There are three common refractive defects of vision.
These are 1- Myopia or near-sightedness
2- Hypermetropia or far-sightedness
3- Presbyopia
1. Myopia
Myopia is also known as near-sightedness. A person with
myopia can see nearby objects clearly but cannot see
distant objects distinctly. A person with this defect
has the far point nearer than infinity. In a
myopic eye, the image of a distant object is formed in
front of the retina and not at the retina itself.
This defect may arise due to
excessive curvature of the eye lens, or
elongation of the eyeball.
This defect can be corrected by using a concave lens of
suitable power.
2. Hypermetropia
Hypermetropia is also known as far-sightedness. A person
with hypermetropia can see distant objects clearly but
cannot see nearby objects distinctly.
The near point, for the person, is farther away from the
normal near point (25 cm).
Such a person has to keep reading material much beyond
25 cm from the eye for comfortable reading. This is
because the light rays from a closeby object are focussed
at a point behind the retina. This
defect arises either because
the focal length of the eye lens is too long, or
the eyeball has become too small.
This defect can be corrected by using a convex lens of
appropriate power.
3. Presbyopia
The power of accommodation of the eye usually decreases
with aging. For most people, the near point gradually
recedes away. They find it difficult to see nearby objects
comfortably and distinctly without corrective eye-glasses.
This defect is called Presbyopia. It
arises due to:
gradual weakening of the ciliary muscles
diminishing flexibility of the eye lens.
Note: Sometimes, a person may suffer from both myopia
and hypermetropia. Such people often require bi-focal
lenses. A common type of bi-focal lens consists of both
concave and convex lenses. The upper portion consists of
a concave lens. It facilitates distant vision. The lower part
is a convex lens. It facilitates near vision.
Refraction of Light Through a Prism
Consider a triangular glass prism. It has two triangular
bases and three rectangular lateral surfaces. These
surfaces are inclined to each other. The angle between its
two lateral faces is called the angle of the prism.
Refraction of Light through a Prism
A ray of light enters from air to glass at the first surface
AB. The light ray on refraction has bent towards the
normal. At the second surface AC, the light ray has
entered from glass to air. Hence it has bent away from
normal. The peculiar shape of the prism makes the
emergent ray bend at an angle to the direction of the
this case, ∠D is the angle of deviation.
incident ray. This angle is called the angle of deviation. In
Dispersion of White Light by a Glass Prism
When a ray of white light is incident on a glass prism, it
splits the incident white light into a band of colors. The
various colors seen are Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow,
Orange, and Red (VIBGYOR).
The band of the colored components of a light beam
is called its spectrum.
The splitting of light into its component colors is
called dispersion.
Why do we get these colors? (Cause of Dispersion of Light)
Different colors of light bend through different angles with
respect to the incident ray, as they pass through a prism.
The red light bends the least while the violet the most.
Thus the rays of each colour emerge along different paths
and thus become distinct. It is the band of distinct colors
that we see in a spectrum.
Recombination of White Light
Recombination of the Spectrum of White Light
Isaac Newton was the first to use a glass prism to obtain
the spectrum of sunlight. He then placed a second
identical prism in an inverted position with respect to the
first prism. This allowed all the colors of the spectrum to
pass through the second prism. He found a beam of white
light emerging from the other side of the second prism.
Rainbow Formation
Rainbow Formation
A rainbow is a natural spectrum appearing in the sky after
a rain shower. It is caused by the dispersion of sunlight by
tiny water droplets, present in the atmosphere. A rainbow
is always formed in a direction opposite to that of the Sun.
The water droplets act like small prisms. They refract and
disperse the incident sunlight, then reflect it internally,
and finally refract it again when it comes out of the
raindrop. Due to the dispersion of light and internal
reflection, different colors reach the observer’s eye.
Atmospheric Refraction
The refraction of light by the earth’s atmosphere is called
atmospheric refraction.
The hot air is lighter (less dense) than the cool air and has
a refractive index slightly less than that of the cool air.
Twinkling of Stars
Apparent star position due to atmospheric
refraction
The twinkling of a star is due to the atmospheric
refraction of starlight. The starlight, on entering the
earth’s atmosphere, undergoes refraction continuously
before it reaches the earth. Since the stars are very
distant, they approximate point-sized sources of light. As
the path of rays of light coming from the distant star
varies slightly, the apparent position of the star fluctuates
and the amount of starlight entering the eye flickers that
is, the stars sometimes appear brighter, and at some
other times, fainter, which is the twinkling effect.
Why don't the planets twinkle?
The planets are much closer to the earth and are thus
seen as extended sources. Due to this, they appear a
combination of large point-sized sources of light, and the
total variation in the amount of light entering our eye
from all the individual point-sized sources averages out to
zero, thereby nullifying the twinkling effect.
Advance Sunrise and Delayed Sunset
Atmospheric refraction
effect at sunrise and sunset
The Sun is visible to us about 2 minutes before the actual
sunrise, and about 2 minutes after the actual sunset
because of atmospheric refraction.
The time difference between the actual sunset and the
apparent sunset is about 2 minutes.
The apparent flattening of the Sun’s disc at sunrise and
sunset is also due to the same phenomenon.
Scattering of Light
Tyndall Effect
The Earth’s atmosphere is a heterogeneous mixture of
minute particles. These particles include smoke, tiny
water droplets, suspended particles of dust, and
molecules of air. When a beam of light strikes such fine
particles, the path of the beam becomes visible. The light
reaches us after being reflected diffusely by these
particles. The phenomenon of scattering of light by the
colloidal particles gives rise to the Tyndall effect.
Examples:
This phenomenon is seen when a fine beam of
sunlight enters a smoke-filled room through a small
hole. Thus, the scattering of light makes the particles
visible.
Tyndall effect can also be observed when sunlight
passes through the canopy of a dense forest. Here,
tiny water droplets in the mist scatter light.
The color of the scattered light depends on the size of the
scattering particles. Very fine particles scatter mainly blue
light while particles of larger size scatter light of longer
wavelengths. If the size of the scattering particles is large
enough, then, the scattered light may even appear white.
Why is the color of the clear Sky Blue?
The molecules of air and other fine particles in the
atmosphere have sizes smaller than the wavelength of
visible light. These are more effective in scattering light of
shorter wavelengths at the blue end than light of longer
wavelengths at the red end. Thus, when sunlight passes
through the atmosphere, the fine particles in the air
scatter the blue color (shorter wavelengths) more strongly
than red. The scattered blue light enters our eyes.
If the earth had no atmosphere, there would not have
been any scattering. Then, the sky would have looked
dark.
The sky appears dark to passengers flying at very high
altitudes, as scattering is not prominent at such heights.
‘Danger’ signal lights are red in color: The red is least
scattered by fog or smoke. Therefore, it can be seen in the
same color at a distance.
