Kinanti Widyaningsih / XII C / 17

How Can We See?

God gives us five senses and one of them is sight. Eyes are very important for us to see beautiful creations of God, your parents, friends, and many others. How is vision processed in our eyes? Vision process occurs step by step. When eyes see a thing, photon moves from that thing to the eyes. Light waves are transfered from the eye to cornea, aqueous humor, pupil, lens, vitreous humor, and retina. Our eyes have a part called sclera that covers cornea and eyelid. Then, there is a part called coroid. It has black brown colour. This layer contains many blood vessels that give nutrition and oxygen. In the front side, coroid makes ciliary body which then makes colored iris. In ciliary body there is water like fluid called aqueous humor. It fills the front of the eye between
the lens and cornea and provides the cornea and lens with oxygen and nutrients. The hole in the

center of iris is called pupil. The light then progresses through the pupil. Fluctuations in incoming light change the size of the eyes pupil. When the light entering the eye is bright enough, the pupil will constrict (get smaller), due to the papillary light response. Before light enters the retina, it refracts five times : through conjunctiva, cornea, aqueous humor, lens, and vitreous humor. Mammals eyes can change refractions degree by changing the lenss form. Lens receives light waves from pupil and continues it to retina. Light from objects far from our eyes is focused by thin and long lens. Besides, light from objects near our eyes is focused by thick and short lens. The function of lens is to set the light focus, so the light can be caught by retina. The process of focusing object in different distances is called acommodation. The light continues through the vitreous humor, the clear gel that makes up about 80% of the eyes volume, and then, ideally, back to a clear focus on the retina behind the vitreous. The small central area of the retina is the macula, which provides the best vision of any location in the retina. If the eye is considered to be a type of camera, the retina is equivalent to the film inside the camera, registering the tiny photons of light interacting with it. There are two receptor cells in retina : conus cell and bacillus cell. Conus cell consists of retinin and opsin pigment (iodopsin pigment). These two pigments will disperse if theres a light. The function of conus cell pigment is to distuingish colours in a bright atmosphere. Conus cell is only found in macula. If one of conus cells damages, it will cause color-blind.

Kinanti Widyaningsih / XII C / 17

Bacillus cell has pigment called rodoptin. It contains protein and vitamin A. Rodoptin can disperse to protein and vitamin A if theres light. Pigment can be gathered again in dark atmosphere. This process needs time called rodoptin adaptation. This process also makes eyes difficult to see things. Within the layers of the retina, light impulses are changed into electrical signals. Then they are sent through the optic nerve, along the visual pathway, to the occipital cortex at the posterior (back) of the brain. Here, the electrical signals are interpreted or seen by the brain as a visual image. Actually, then, we do not see with our eyes but, rather, with our brains. Our eyes merely are the beginnings of the visual process.

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