The Eye

Most people depend more on their eyesight than on any other sense because it tells us so
much about the world around us. The eye, one of our most precious sense organs, is for sight.
Our eyes lie in two bony sockets in front of the skull. These sockets protect the eye.

A
 Formation of the image on the eye
The image is formed on the retina and it enables the person to see. What happens here is that
the light rays from the object are bent (refracted) inwards, by the cornea and the eye lens, and
meet on the retina. The light stimulates the light sensitive cells in the retina and nerve
impulses pass along the optic nerve to the brain, producing an image of the object. When
looking at an object, light rays from that object enter the eye, and for an image to be in focus,
the light rays must meet on the retina. Seeing things through two eyes is called binocular
vision. Seeing things in depth depends on using both eyes. Each eye sees a slightly different
aspect of the same object. The two messages are combined by the brain and it gives us a three
dimensional view of the object. It also helps us to judge distances.
How is the amount of light entering the eye controlled?
The amount of light entering the eye is controlled by the iris. Circular and radial muscle
fibres in the iris change the size of the pupil automatically according to the amount of light
available. When there is less light or low light intensity, the circular muscles relax whilst the
radial muscles contract, pull the circular muscles outwards and thus the pupil size increases.
When there is too much light, the radial muscles relax whilst the circular muscles contract
and thus decreasing the size of the pupil. These are reflex actions which control the amount
of light entering the eye. The diagrams that follow show how the eye looks like when the
light is and dim how it looks when the light is bright.

Response of the Eye to Dim Light or Low Light Intensity

As you can see in the diagram above, the black part represents the pupil. Under dim it
becomes bigger to allow more light into the eye so that we can see, but when there is too
much light the pupil gets smaller, as shown below, to allow enough light into the eye so that
we can see.
 Response of the pupil to a high light intensity or bright light

Below is a summary of what happens when the eye is exposed to a bright light or a dim
light.

Accomodation

The eye’s lens can change its thickness in order to focus images from objects that are at
different distances and this called accommodation.

The eye lens changes its shape to ensure that light rays meet on the retina. If light rays fall in
front of the retina or behind the retina, the image will not be visible and it is said to be out of
focus. The diagrams below show how the eye lens adjusts in order to view distant and near
objects respectively.

When viewing distant objects, you normally open your eyes wider and by so doing the lens of
the eye is pulled thin as shown in the diagram above. This will then bend the light rays from a
distant object and allow the image to fall onto the retina.
(ii) For near objects

When viewing nearby objects you close your eyes a bit and the lens of the eye gets thicker as
shown in the diagram above. The light rays will bend as shown in the diagram to allow the
image to be formed in the retina.

The retina consists of two types of light sensitive cells called cones and rods. They differ in
structure and function.

Cones are broad in structure and found in the centre of the retina, particularly the fovea.
Their function is to give precise vision in colour. Images formed by cones are usually very
detailed.
Rods on the other hand are narrow in structure and are found in more peripheral parts of the
retina. They produce less defined images in black and white. They respond to light of low
intensity. Cones and rods contain pigments. When light strikes the cell, the pigment is broken
down. This causes the cell to send an impulse into the optic nerve. Meanwhile the pigment is
re-made and can be used again. Rods can function in poor light because their pigment is
broken down by only very small amounts of light. Cones see things clearly because they are
very close together and each one has its own nerve fibre to the brain.
Defects of the Eye
There are many abnormalities that can occur to the eye in humans. Some these are short
sightedness, far sightedness, and astigmatism.

Short Sightedness
The other name for this defect is myopia. The person can focus near objects but not far
objects. This is caused by long eyeballs or a strong eye lens. The image from a distant object
falls in front of the retina, as shown in the diagram and therefore is not seen. The image can
be seen only when it falls in the retina.

Figure 7: Short sightedness

This can be corrected by wearing glasses with a diverging or concave lens and the figure
below shows how this can be corrected. The rays from the diverging lens are spread out a bit
and then the lens of the eye will bend them so that they fall on to the retina.

Figure 8: Correcting short-sightedness

Far Sightedness
Far sightedness is sometimes referred to as hypermetropia. The person with such a defect
can see far objects but not near objects. This is due to the eyeball being too short or the lens
being too weak. The image from a near object falls behind the retina as shown in the diagram
below.
 Figure 9: Long sight

This can be corrected by wearing glasses with a converging or convex lens and this is
illustrated in the second diagram above. The converging lens will bend the light rays, which
will then be bent further by the eye lens so that the image falls on to the retina.

Astigmatism
Some people suffer from this defect. This is caused by the cornea and/or lens from being
unevenly curved. The light rays meet on the retina in one plane but not in another. This can
be corrected by wearing cylindrical lenses.