The Human Eye and the Colourful World

THE HUMAN EYE:

The human eye is one of the most valuable and sensitive sense organs. It enables us to see the wonderful world
and the colours around us.
The human eye is like a camera. Its lens system forms an image on a light-sensitive screen called the retina. Light
enters the eye through a thin membrane called the cornea. It forms the transparent bulge on the front surface of
the eyeball as shown in Fig. Most of the refraction for the light rays entering the eye occurs at the outer surface
of the cornea. The crystalline lens merely provides the finer adjustment of focal length required to focus objects
at different distances on the retina. We find a structure called 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 forms an inverted real image of the object on the retina. The retina is a delicate membrane having
enormous number of light-sensitive cells (Rods and cones). 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 ability of the eye lens to adjust its focal length is called accommodation.
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.
For a young adult with normal vision, the near point is about 25 cm. 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. You may note here a normal
eye can see objects clearly that are between 25 cm and infinity.
DEFECTS OF VISION AND THEIR CORRECTION:
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. Such a person may see clearly up to a distance of
a few metres. In a myopic eye, the image of a distant object is formed in front of the retina [Fig. (b)] and not at
the retina itself. This defect may arise due to (i) excessive curvature of the eye lens, or
(ii) elongation of the eyeball.
This defect can be corrected by using a concave lens of suitable power. This is illustrated in Fig.(c). A concave lens
of suitable power will bring the image back on to the retina and thus the defect is corrected.

(a), (b) The myopic eye, and (c) correction for myopia with a concave lens
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 a
reading material much beyond 25 cm from the eye for comfortable reading.
This is because the light rays from a close by object are focussed at a point behind the retina as shown in Fig.(b).
This defect arises either because (i) the focal length of the eye lens is too long, or
(ii) the eyeball has become too small.
This defect can be corrected by using a convex lens of appropriate power. This is illustrated in Fig.(c). Eye-glasses
with converging lenses provide the additional focussing power required for forming the image on the retina.

(a), (b) The hypermetropic eye, and (c) correction for hypermetropia
N = Near point of a hypermetropic eye. N’ = Near point of a normal eye.
Presbyopia: The power of accommodation of the eye usually decreases with ageing. 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 the gradual weakening of the ciliary
muscles and diminishing flexibility of the eye lens. Sometimes, a person may suffer from both myopia and
hypermetropia. Such people often require bi-focal lenses. A common type of bi-focal lenses 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.
These days, it is possible to correct the refractive defects with contact lenses or through surgical interventions.
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 triangular glass prism

Here PE is the incident ray, EF is the refracted ray and FS is the emergent ray. You may note that a ray of light is
entering 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. Compare the
angle of incidence and the angle of refraction at each refracting surface of the prism. Is this similar to the kind of
bending that occurs in a glass slab? The peculiar shape of the prism makes the emergent ray bend at an angle to
the direction of the incident ray. This angle is called the angle of deviation. In this case ∠D is the angle of
deviation. Mark the angle of deviation in the above activity and measure it.

DISPERSION OF WHITE LIGHT BY A GLASS PRISM: The splitting of light into its component colours is called
dispersion.
The prism has probably split the incident white light into a band of colours. Note the colours that appear at the
two ends of the colour band. The various colours seen are Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red, as
shown in Fig. The acronym VIBGYOR will help you to remember the sequence of colours. The band of the
coloured components of a light beam is called its spectrum. You might not be able to see all the colours
separately. Yet something makes each colour distinct from the other.
Dispersion of white light by the glass prism
You have seen that white light is dispersed into its seven-colour components by a prism. Why do we get these
colours? Different colours 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 colours that we see in a spectrum.
Isaac Newton was the first to use a glass prism to obtain the spectrum of sunlight. He tried to split the colours of
the spectrum of white light further by using another similar prism. However, he could not get any more colours.
He then placed a second identical prism in an inverted position with respect to the first prism, as shown in Fig.
This allowed all the colours 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. This observation gave Newton the idea that the sunlight is
made up of seven colours

Recombination of the spectrum of white light

Rainbow formation:

A rainbow is a natural spectrum appearing in the sky after a rain shower. It is caused by 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 (Fig). Due to the dispersion of light and
internal reflection, different colours reach the observer’s eye.
You can also see a rainbow on a sunny day when you look at the sky through a waterfall or through a water
fountain, with the Sun behind you.
ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION

Twinkling of stars: The twinkling of a star is due to atmospheric refraction of starlight. The starlight, on entering the earth’s
atmosphere, undergoes refraction continuously before it reaches the earth. The atmospheric refraction occurs in a
medium of gradually changing refractive index. Since the atmosphere bends starlight towards the normal, the apparent
position of the star is slightly different from its actual position. The star appears slightly higher (above) than its actual
position when viewed near the horizon (Fig). Further, this apparent position of the star is not stationary, but keeps on
changing slightly, since the physical conditions of the earth’s atmosphere are not stationary, as was the case in the previous
paragraph. Since the stars are very distant, they approximate point-sized sources of light. As the path of rays of light
coming from the star goes on varying slightly, the apparent position of the star fluctuates and the amount of starlight
entering the eye flickers – the star sometimes appears brighter, and at some other time, 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. If we
consider a planet as a collection of a large number of point-sized sources of light, the total variation in the amount of light
entering our eye from all the individual point-sized sources will average out to zero, thereby nullifying the twinkling effect.

Apparent star position due to atmospheric refraction

Why don’t the planets twinkle? The planets are much closer to the earth, and are thus seen as extended sources. If we
consider a planet as a collection of a large number of point-sized sources of light, the total variation in the amount of light
entering our eye from all the individual point-sized sources will average out to zero, thereby nullifying the twinkling effect.

Advance sunrise and delayed sunset: The Sun are visible to us about 2 minutes before the actual sunrise, and about 2
minutes after the actual sunset because of atmospheric refraction. By actual sunrise, we mean the actual crossing of the
horizon by the Sun. Fig. 10.10 shows the actual and apparent positions of the Sun with respect to the horizon. The time
difference between 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.

Atmospheric refraction effects at sunrise and sunset

SCATTERING OF LIGHT

The interplay of light with objects around us gives rise to several spectacular phenomena in nature. The blue colour of the
sky, colour of water in deep sea, the reddening of the sun at sunrise and the sunset are some of the wonderful phenomena
we are familiar with. 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 Tyndall effect.

The colour 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 colour of the clear Sky Blue?

The molecules of air and other fine particles in the atmosphere have size 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. The red light has a wavelength about 1.8 times greater than blue light. Thus, when sunlight passes through the
atmosphere, the fine particles in air scatter the blue colour (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.