Human Eye

Summary

Human eye is the most important organ of our body which is an optical device that
serves as our organ of sight. It consists of a tough fibrous membrane called sclera
that protects the internal parts of the eye.

Cornea is the membrane covering the front of the eye that is bulged out and is
responsible for the maximum refraction of the light that enters the eye.

Aqueous humour lies behind cornea that enables the eye to cope up with the
atmospheric changes.

Iris forms the coloured part of the eye. It adjusts the size of the pupil, thereby
controls the amount of light entering the eye.

the crystalline lens, lies behind Iris a biconvex structure that helps in fine
adjustment to the refracted light so that it is focused on the screen of the eye,
which is referred to as retina.

Ciliary muscle helps in adjusting the focal length of the lens by contraction or
relaxing. Vitreous humour lies behind the lens which is a dense, clear, jelly like fluid
which helps to maintain the shape of the eye and focus the image clearly on the
retina.

Retina is actually a canopy of the nerve endings of the optical nerve through which
images are converted into electrical impulses and transferred to the brain for
realization of the image.
The eye can focus near objects as well distant objects and this is accommodation
of the eye. The minimum distance of the object at which an eye can focus clearly is
the near point the maximum is called the far point.

If an eye is unable to focus the nearby objects and is able to view clearly the far off
objects, the defect is called hypermetropia or long sightedness and can be
corrected by a suitable convex lens.

On the other hand if a person is able to view the nearby objects clearly and unable
to view the distant objects the defect is myopia or short sightedness and can be
corrected by a suitable concave lens.

The power of the corrective lens is calculated by using lens formula and is
measured in dioptre. The major parts of the human eyeand their functions are as
the following:

Functions of the Parts of Human Eye

Sclera
Protects and contains internal parts

Cornea
Cornea is responsible for maximum refraction of incident light

Aqueous Humour
Prevents collapse of the eye due to atmospheric pressure changes
Iris
Iris controls the light entering the eye by  adjusting the size of pupil

Crystalline Lens
Focuses the light reflected by objects on the retina.

Ciliary Muscles
Alter focal length of the crystalline lens

Retina
Receives optical image and converts it to electrical impulses

Vitreous Humour
Maintains the shape of the eye

Optic Nerve
Carries electrical impulses to the brain. Brain interprets these impulses and
produces the sense of vision.

The functioning of a camera is similar to that of the eye.

Accommodation
The ability of the eye to change the focus between objects at different distances
by altering the curvature of the lens is called accommodation.

        •  To form a clear image of different objects at different distances from the
eye, the focal length of the eye lens has to be changed.
        •  The contraction and relaxation of ciliary muscles helps to alter the
curvature of the lens.
        •  Far point is the maximum distance from the eye at which the eye can
obtain a focused image of an object without straining.

Far point
The farthest point upto which a shortt sighted eye can see clearlyis called the
farpoint of the eye. For a normal human eye, the far point is infinity.

Near Point
Near point is the minimum distance at which the eye can obtain a focused image of
an object without straining. For a normal human eye, of an adultthe near point is
about25 cm from the eye.

Least Distance of Distinct Vision

The minimum distance required between the object and the eye to view the object
comfortably is called the least distance of distinct vision.
       
        •  Long exposure of the eyes to ultraviolet light, effects of diabetes,
hypertension and old age can result in a condition called cataract.
        •  Cataract results in a cloudy translucent eye lens. This cloudiness affects the
ability of the eye to accommodate.
        •  The horizontal field of view for a single eye is 150 o.
        •  Stereovision position of the eyes, help us to see the maximum possible
number of objects around us.

Factors causing irregularities in vision

        •  Irregularities on the surface of the cornea

        •  Development of cataract
        •  Weakening of ciliary muscles  
        •  Change in the size of the eyeball
These irregularities lead to the following three major types of defective vision.

        •  Myopia
        •  Hypermetropia
        •  Presbyopia  

Myopia
Myopia, also known as short sightedness or near sightedness, is a defect in which a
human eye can see nearby objects clearly but distant objects appear blurred and unclear.
 
Myopia can be corrected by placing a suitable concave lens in the line of sight.
 
Hypermetropia
Hypermetropia also known as long sightedness is a defect of vision in which a human eye
has problems seeing objects located nearby, clearly.

        •  A person suffering from hypermetropia can see distant objects clearly.
        •  Hypermetropia occurs when the converging power of the eye lens is less than
normal.
        •  Hypermetropia can be corrected by placing a suitable convex lens in the line of
sight.

Presbyopia
Presbyopia is a condition in which the crystalline lens of an eye loses its flexibility.

Persons suffering from presbyopia are unable to read or see clearly even at the least
distance of distinct vision, which is 25 centimetre. To correct presbyopia, a bifocal lens is
used.

Correction of Hypermetropia and Myopia

To correct the short sightedness i.e. Myopia a concave lens whose focal length is equal to the
distance of the far poin tof the myopic eye is to be placed in front of the the myopic eye.

To correct the Longt sightedness i.e. Myopia a converging i.e. convex lens of suitable focal
length is used. When it is placed before the eye lens, the final image is focussed on to the retina.
Calculation of focal length of the corrective lens of  Longt sightedness (Myopia) 

The Focal length of the creective lens is calculated as the following.

If x is the distance of the near point of the defective eye and D is the least distance of
distict vision, the 
u = - D,v  = -x, where u = Object distance and x = Distance of the near point of the
defective eye
⇒(1/f) = [(1/v) -(1/u)]
⇒(1/f) = [-(1/x) =(1/D)]
⇒(1/f) = [(x D)/(x - D)]
⇒(1/f) = xD/(x - D)
Since x>D, the focal lenth is posive.

whose focal length is equal to the distance of the far poin tof the myopic eye is to be placed in
front of the the myopic eye.

Dispersion and Scattering of Light

Summary

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Rainbow is the natural phenomenon in which dispersion takes place. The cause of
dispersion is that sun light consists of seven constituents (colours namely violet,
indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red popularly referred to as VIBGYOR) that
have different refractive index with respect to a medium. The wavelength of each
colour is different that causes the difference in velocity of the corresponding light
when passing from one medium to another.

This phenomenon can be observed in a lab environment using a triangular glass

prism. It is a solid structure having three rectangular and two triangular surfaces.
Any two rectangular faces are the refracting surfaces and the third one is the base.
The angle between two refracting surfaces of a triangular glass prism is denoted by
A, called the angle of the prism or the refracting angle.

The ray that deviates at the point of incidence due to a change in the medium is
the refracted ray.
 
The angle formed between the incident ray and the normal at the point of
incidence is known as the angle of incidence. 
 
The angle between the normal and the refracted ray is known as the angle
of refraction.
 
The angle between the directions of the incident ray and that of the emergent ray
is called the angle of deviation and is represented by Greek letter δ or q d.

        •  The splitting of white light into its constituent colours is called dispersion of
light.
        •  Light disperses and creates a rainbow effect, when it propagates and
refracts in a prism.
        •  Light disperses and creates a rainbow effect, when it propagates and
refracts in a prism.

The order of colours in a rainbow is popularly identified using the acronym,

VIBGYOR, each letter standing for a colour in order.
 
Atmospheric refraction refers to the apparent random wavering or flickering of
objects due to inconsistency in the physical conditions of the refracting media such
as air.
 
In scientific terms, the twinkling of stars is termed as astronomical
scintillation. When the sun is just below the horizon, its rays enter earth’s
atmosphere and are refracted towards the earth. The refracted rays reach the
earth making it appear as if the sun has already risen above the horizon. This is
apparent sunrise.
 
Apparent sunset occurs slightly later than the actual sunset, since the light from the
sun is already below the horizon, it refracts through the atmosphere, enabling us to
see the apparent sunset, even after the sun has already set.

Scattering of light is the deviation of light rays from its straight path. As light
propagates through the atmosphere, it travels in a straight path until it is
obstructed by bits of dust or gas molecules.

During sunrise and sunset, the sun is at the horizon and refractive index of the
atmosphere of the earth decrease with height. Due to this, light reaching the
earth's atmosphere from different parts of the vertical diameter of the sun enters
at different heights in earth's atmosphere and so travels in media of
different refractive indices at the same instant and hence, bend unequally. Due to
this unequal bending of of light from the vertical diameter, the image of the sun
gets destored and it apppears oval and larger. However, at noon when the sun is
overhead, then due to normal incidence of light there is no bending of light and
hence, the sun appears circular.
 
The sky appears blue because out of the seven colours of light, blue has the
shortest wavelength, and therefore it experiences more scattering than other
colours.
 
Scattering of light gives rise to many amazing and spectacular phenomena such as
the Tyndall effect and the reddening of the sun at sunrise and sunset.
 
The Tyndall effect is the scattering of light by colloidal particles.

Sun Appears red at Sunrise and Sunset

The sun appears white at noon becuase the light from the sun overhead would
travel relatively shorter distance. As only a little of the blue and violetcolours are
scattered.

the light from the sun, near the horizon, passes through the thicker layers of air and
covers a large distance in the earth's atmosphere before reaching our eyes.

Near the horizon, most of the blue light and other shorter wavelengths are
scattered away by the particles. Therefore, the light that reaches our eyes is of
longer wavelengths. This gives rise to the reddish appearance of the sun.

Clouds are White

Clouds are white because their water droplets or ice crystals are large enough to
scatter the light of the seven wavelengths the component colours of white light(i.e
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet), which combine to produce
white light.