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The Human Eye and Vision

The structure of the eye
Iris Cornea Lens

The Retina
Photoreceptors Processing time Sensitivity

Focusing
Cornea Accommodation

Rods and Cones

Because of their different functions, rods and cones are present in varying densities in the retina. The blind spot is due to the connection of the optic nerve

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Light Sensitivity
Remember we talked about rods and cones Cones:
Sensitive to bright light, photopic conditions Densely packed in the fovea Only a few cones per nerve fiber

Rods:
Sensitive to low light, scotopic conditions Widely distributed across the retina Up to 1000s of rods per nerve fiber (think of this as many many drops falling into the same pipe, one drop cant be detected, but many drops generate some water flow that can be measured)

Dark Adaptation
Object must be very bright to be seen

Dim objects can be seen

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Concept Question
The most important means by which you can see light intensities varying by over 13 orders of magnitude is
a) the variable opening of your iris which acts like a diaphragm b) your retina's ability to change its sensitivity to light c) your optic nerve d) your cornea letting in more light e) your photoreceptors turning on and off faster or slower

Color Effects
The rods and cones are sensitive to different wavelengths (colors) of light. Recall our discussions of resonance.
Rods

Cones

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Color Effects
Rods are only sensitive to green and blue light, and not sensitive at all to red and yellow light. In low light conditions, red objects will appear very dim, because the rods are not sensitive to the light from those objects This causes the relative brightness of different colored objects to change when viewed in different lighting conditions

Chapter 6: Optical Instruments

Eyeglasses
nearsightedness farsightedness contact lenses

Magnifying Glasses

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Near and Far Points

The eyelens has two extreme points, fully relaxed and fully bulged, called fully accommodated. When the lens is fully accommodated, which object is in focus on the retina? A. A distant star B. A tree outside in your yard C. Your cell phone screen when texting

Far Points
When the lens is fully relaxed, a normal eye cornea and lens will focus distant objects (at infinity) on the retina

This is known as the far point of the eye

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Near Points
When the lens is fully accommodated (bulged), the eye will focus an object at about 25 cm (10 inches) away onto the retina This is known as the near point of the eye
25 cm (10 inches)

Imperfect Vision
Lets consider light coming into the eye from a distant object, approximated as parallel rays. In a normal eye, these rays focus on the retina when the eyelens is fully relaxed If the cornea is not properly shaped, these rays will not focus on the retina

parallel rays focus past the retina

parallel rays focus in front of the retina

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Myopia (Nearsightedness)
If parallel rays focus before (in front of) the retina, the cornea lens must be: A. Too powerful B. Not powerful enough remember: =

Myopia
Myopia occurs when the cornea is too powerful. When the eyelens is fully relaxed, the far point is not at infinity, but closer This results in distant objects appearing blurry

far point is less than infinity

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Hyperopia (Farsightedness)
Hyperopia is the opposite problem, when the cornea is not powerful enough, and parallel rays are not focused by the time they reach the retina. The eyelens can partially accommodate to increase the power of the cornea-lens system, and focus these rays on the retina

eyelens partially accommodated to increase lens power

Hyperopia
Because the eyelens has to partially accommodate to focus rays from distant objects, its range will not be sufficient to focus near objects on the retina
25 cm

more than 25 cm

This results in a near point that is more distant than the standard 25 cm

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Power of a Lens
Its going to be easier to think about corrective lenses using lens power rather than focal length, so lets review what this means Remember: = 1 ( )

The more a lens bulges, the shorter its focal length, and the larger its ray-bending power

Power of a Lens
When the eyelens is fully relaxed, the power of the cornea plus the eyelens is 60 diopters in a normal eye.

If the eyelens then fully accommodates, does the power of the cornea plus eyelens A. increase B. stay the same C. decrease

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Power of a Lens
When fully accommodated, the power of the cornea plus eyelens increases by about 4 diopters. Your eyeglass or contact lens prescription is given in diopters, the power of the lens needed to correct the imperfect curvature of your cornea Converging lenses have a positive power (positive focal length) and diverging lenses have a negative power (negative focal length)

Corrective Lenses
Myopic (nearsighted) eyes have a cornea plus lens that is too powerful
They will require a negative (diverging) lens to compensate

Hyperopic (farsighted) eyes have a cornea plus lens that is not powerful enough
They will require a positive (converging) lens to compensate

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Multiple Lenses: Review

Multiple Lenses
Lens 1 Lens 2 Image from Lens 1 only, effective image for Lens 2

f1

f2

f1

f2

If we add a second lens, we can find the image produced by the combination of lenses by using the image from Lens 1 as an effective image for Lens 2

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Multiple Lenses
Lens 1 Lens 2

f1

f2

f1

f2

We know where rays from the original object have to hit Lens 2 because we know where the image is. We can use this to find the special rays for Lens 2, and the final image.

Corrective Lenses
Lens 1 Lens 2 Retina

f1

f2

f1

f2

Here the eye lens system produces an image behind the retina. If we add a lens in front, like glasses or contacts, the combination of the two lenses will produce an image correctly located at your retina

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Multiple Lenses: Power

The power of two lenses held together is equal to the sum of their individual powers

= 1 + 2
The focal length of the combined lenses = 1

We can use this in the lens equation

Lens Power
A myopic eye is too powerful, say it has a power of 63 diopters. What power of lens should we put next to it to get a combined power of 60 diopters (normal eye)
A. B. C. D. -2 diopters -3 diopters 2 diopters 3 diopters

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Lens Power
If we have a hyperopic eye of power 58 diopters wearing corrective lenses of power 2 diopters, what is the focal length of the combined set of lenses?
A. 1.5 cm (0.015 m) B. 1.7 cm (0.017 m) C. 2 cm (0.02 m)

Corrective Lenses: Myopia

To correct myopia (nearsightedness), a diverging lens creates an intermediate image of a distant star at your far point so that your eye can see it even though the star is beyond your far point.

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Corrective Lenses: Myopia

To correct myopia (nearsightedness), a diverging lens creates an intermediate image of a distant star at your far point so that your eye can see it even though the star is beyond your far point.
far point

image of distant object

Corrective Lenses: Hyperopia

To correct farsightedness your contact lens creates an (intermediate) image of a book 25 cm away at your near point so that your farsighted eye can see it even though the book is closer than your near point
near point 25 cm

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Corrective Lenses: Hyperopia

To correct farsightedness your contact lens creates an (intermediate) image of a book 25 cm away at your near point so that your farsighted eye can see it even though the book is closer than your near point

near point

25 cm focal point of corrective lens

Determining Prescription
You can figure out the required eyeglass prescription if you know the near and/or far points. If you are nearsighted, you want your corrective lenses to create an image of a distant object at your far point. So the object distance is infinity = The image distance is your far point = 1 1 1 = + The image distance is negative because it is on the same side of the lens as the object.

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Determining Prescription
If you are far sighted, you want the lens to create an image at your near point of an object at 25 cm So the object distance is 25 cm = 25 The image distance is your near point = 1 1 1 = + The image distance here is also negative

Determining Prescription
You are near sighted and your far point is 1 meter away. What is your prescription?
A. B. C. D. E. +1 diopter -1 diopter +2 diopters -2 diopters +3 diopters

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Determining Prescription
You are far sighted and your near point is 1 meter away instead of 25 cm. What is your prescription?
A. B. C. D. E. +1 diopter -1 diopter +2 diopters -2 diopters +3 diopters

Presbyopia: Bifocals
It is possible to have both a near point that is more distant than 25 cm and a far point that is closer than infinity. In this case, you need bifocals, which have two lenses in them, one to correct each imperfection The top part of the lens (the picture shows a pair of bifocals upside down) corrects the far point The bottom part of the lens corrects the near point

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Contact Lenses
Contact lenses are just a thinner and smaller version of glasses that rest directly on the cornea, with a thin layer of fluid in between.

Magnifying Glasses

Recall this configuration (also on the exam) that produces an upright, magnified image.

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Magnifying Glasses

Where should we put the lens to get the biggest image on our retina? If we move the object closer to the magnifying glass, the image gets smaller.

Magnifying Glasses

You would think we would want to put the object close to the focal point of the lens, which would make the biggest image. But we want the biggest image on our retina

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Image Size on the Retina

The size of an object on your retina is related to the angle between the axis and the ray passing through the center of the lens A large angle means a large image on the retina. Here we see an example that you all know intuitively: that objects look smaller when they are farther away

this angle is large so the object is large

this angle is small so the object is small

Image Size on the Retina

So to make the image as large as possible on the retina, we want the object to be as close as possible to the eye But we can only focus objects as closer as our near point (25 cm in a normal eye, closer for nearsighted people) A magnifying glass allows you to bring objects closer to your eye and still keep them in focus

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Magnifying Glasses
Placing an object at the focal point of the magnifying glass will produce an image at infinity, which your eye can focus on (its far point) with the eyelens in its fully relaxed state

Magnifying Glasses
You get a slightly larger image on the retina if you move the object such that the magnifying glass produces an image at your near point.

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Magnifying Power
The magnifying power, or magnification of a lens is the ratio of the image sizes on the retina =

Using similar triangles from geometry, we can show that this is the same as
= 25 = ( )

Magnification
= 25 ( )

The magnification of a magnifying glass is usually written as the number plus the letter X, such as 5X or 10X. A smaller focal length will give higher magnification, but very short focal lengths will start to introduce distortions.

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Magnification
A magnifying glass has a focal length of 10cm. What is its magnification?
A. B. C. D. E. 1X 1.5X 2X 2.5X 3X

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