Chapter 11

HUMAN EYE and COLOURFUL WORLD

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS (MCQs)

Q1: By which optical phenomenon, the splitting of white light into seven constituent colours
occur?
(a) Refraction
(b) Reflection
(c) Dispersion
(d) Interference

Q2: A human eye can focus on objects at different distances by adjusting the focal length of
the eye lens. This phenomenon is due to:
(a) near sightedness
(b) long sightedness
(c) accomodation
(d) persistence of vision

*Q3: Which of the following are the primary colours?

(a) Red, Blue, Yellow
(b) Red, Green, Violet.
(c) Yellow, Green Blue
(d) Red, Green, Blue

Q4(NCERT): The human eye forms the image of an object at its

(a) cornea
(b) iris
(c) pupil
(d) retina

Q5(NCERT): The least distance of distinct vision for a young adult with normal vision is about
(a) 25 m
(b) 2.5 cm
(c) 25 cm
(d) 2.5 m

Q6: A person cannot see objects clearly beyond 50 cm. The power of lens to correct the vision
is:
(a) +5 D (c) -2 D
(b) -0.5 D (d) +2 D
Q7: Which phenomenon is responsible for the twinkling of stars?
(a) Atmosphere reflection
(b) Atmosphere refraction
(c) Reflection
(d) Total internal reflection

Q8(NCERT): The change in focal length of an eye lens is caused by the action of the
(a) pupil
(b) retina
(c) ciliary muscles
(d) iris

Q9: What is the time difference between actual sunset and apparent sunset?
(a) 2 s
(b) 20 s
(c) 2 minute
(d) 20 minute
Q10: When light passes through a prism, the colour which deviates the least is:
(a) red
(b) blue
(c) violet
(d) green

Q11: Which of the following optical phenomenon is used in cinematography or movie

projectors?
(a) accomodation
(b) persistence of vision
(c) interference
(d) short sightedness

Answers:
1: (c) Dispersion 2: (c) accomodation
3: (a) Red, Blue, Yellow option for Painting perspective (option is correct (d) Red, Green, Blue
for Computer Graphics)
4: (d) retina 5: (c) 25 cm 6: (c) -2 D 7: (b) Atmosphere refraction
8: (c) ciliary muscles 9: (c) 2 minute 10: (a) red
11: (b) persistence of vision
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. Which type of image is formed on the retina?
a) Virtual and inverted
b) Virtual and erect
c) Real and inverted
d) Real and erect

2. What is the name of the outer thin membrane over the eyeball?
a) Vitreous humour
b) Cornea
c) Retina
d) Irish

3. The size of the pupil is controlled by which of these?

a) Cornea
b) Retina
c) Ciliary muscles
d) Iris

4. What is the minimum distance for clear visibility in human eyes?

a) 25 cm
b) 5 cm
c) 10 cm
d) 20 cm
5. Human eyes can clearly see up to which distance but not beyond that?
a) 10000 m
b) Infinity
c) 1000 m
d) 5000
6. Which of the following is true about a person suffering from myopia?
a) Cannot see objects at middle distance
b) Can see only far off objects
c) Can see nearby objects
d) Cannot see nearby objects
7. Which type of lens is needed to rectify the problem of myopia?
a) Biconcave lens
b) Plano-concave lens
c) Plano-convex lens
d) Biconvex lens
8. Bi-focal lens is advised to a patient suffering from which of these conditions?
a) Hypermetropia
b) Cataract
c) Presbiopia
d) Myopia
9. Which colour from the visible spectrum can travel the farthest?
a) Blue
b) Green
c) Violet
d) Red
10. Which of these is responsible for the formation of rainbow?
a) Dispersion
b) Total internal reflection
c) All of these
d) Refraction
11. Twinkling of stars happens because of which of these?
a) Dispersion
b) Total internal reflection
c) None of these
d) Refraction
12. Tyndall effect happens due to which of these?
a) Scattering
b) Refraction
c) Dispersion
d) Total internal reflection
13. The human eye can focus objects at different distances by adjusting the focal length of the
eye lens. This is due to
a. Presbyopia
b. Accommodation
c. Near sightedness
d. Far sightedness
Answer: (b) Accommodation
14. The human eye forms the image of an object at its
a. Cornea
b. Iris
c. Pupil
d. Retina
Answer: (d) Retina
15. The least distance of distinct vision for a young adult with normal vision is about
a. 25 m
b. 2.5 cm
c. 25 cm
d. 2.5 m
Answer: (c) 25 cm
16. The change in focal length of an eye lens is caused by the action of the
a. Pupil
b. Retina
c. Ciliary muscles
d. Iris
Answer: (c) Ciliary muscles

FILL IN THE BLANKS

1. The transparent spherical membrane covering the front of the eye is called ____________.

2. _______ is the surface which acts as screen and image is formed on it.

3. The colored diaphragm between cornea and lens is known as __________.

4. A small hole in iris which controls the intensity of light entering the eye is called __________.

5. ____________ muscles hold the position of the lens and adjust its thickness.

6. The point on retina at which optic nerve leaves the eye is called ___________. At this point if
any image formed is not sent to the brain.

7. A point on retina which has highest concentration of sensitive cells and forms a clear image
when we see any object minutely, is called __________.

8. The ability of eye lens to focus near and far objects clearly on retina by adjusting is focal
length is called the _______________ of the eye.

9. For a young human adult with normal vision, the near point is about ___________ and it is
denoted by ______.

10. For a young human adult with normal vision, the far point is at __________.

11. To see objects with both eyes together is called _________ vision.
12. A transparent alkaline liquid between cornea and lens is called ___________. It helps in
________ of light rays in cornea.

13. A jelly fluid filling the space between lens and retina is called _________. It with stands
atmospheric pressure and prevents eye ball from collapsing.

14. Human is made up of ___________ jelly fluid material and it is a _________ __________
lens.

15. In __________ distant objects are not clearly visible. It is corrected by using ________ lens.

16. In ___________ objects nearby are not distinctly visible. It is corrected by using _______
lens.

17. ________ occurs due to weakening of ciliary muscles in old age. It can be corrected by using
__________ lenses.

18. Power of a spherical lens is the reciprocal value of its _______________.

Answers:
1: cornea 2: retina 3: Iris 4: pupil 5: Cilliary 6: Blind Spot
7: Macula or yellow spot. 8: accommodation 9: 25 cm, D 10: infinity (∞)
11: binocular 12: aqueous humour, refraction 13: vitreous humour
14: crystalline, double, convex 15: myopia, concave 16: hypermetropia, convex
17: Presbyopia, bi-focal
18: focal length
VERY SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (SET 1)

Q1: Name a light sensitive part of the eye where image of an object is formed.
Answer: Retina

Q2: Name the muscle responsible for bringing change in the focal length of the eye lens?
Answer: Ciliary Muscles

Q3: Name one defect of vision which cannot be corrected by any type of spectacle lenses?
Answer: Cataract

Q4: What is the nature of image formed on the retina of the eye?
Answer: Real and inverted image.

Q5: Name the transparent membrane through which light enters the eye.
Answer: Cornea
Q6: What type of signals are generated & sent to the brain by light sensitive cells of retina?
Answer: Elctro-chemical Nerve signals are generated by rods and cones (photo sensitive cells of
retina) and are sent to brain by optic nerve.

Q7: Which part of the human eye helps in changing the thickness of lens?
Answer: Ciliary muscles

Q8: Which component of human eye controls the amount of light entering the eye?
Answer: Pupil

Q9: Define the term power of accommodation in eye.

Answer: The ability of the eye lens to adjust its focal length is called accommodation

Q10: In which type of eye defect far point of eye gets reduced?
Answer: myopia

Q11: In which type of eye defect near point of eye becomes more then 25cm?
Answer: Hypermetropia

Q12: What is the function of optic nerve in human eye ?

Answer: Optic nerve sends the image formed on retina screen to the brain in the form of
electro-chemical signals.

Q13: What type of lens is used for correcting hypermetropia?

Answer: Converging or convex lens

Q14: Which type of lens should be used to correct the presbyopia?

Answer: Bi-focal lens.

Q15: Define angle of deviation?

Answer: Because of multiple reflections or refractions, bending of light occurs. The angle at which
emergent ray bends with respect to incident ray is called angle of deviation. As shown in figure,
it is denoted by a symbol δ (delta).

The angle of deviation is not the same for all the wavelengths (colours) of light. Usually, for a
prism the angle of deviation can be computed as:
δ = (μ -1) A, where A is angle of prism and μ is refractive index of prism material.
Q16: Who was the first person to obtain the spectrum of sunlight?
Answer: Newton

Q17: Why does sky appear dark to an astronaut?

Answer: There are no dust particles in the upper atmosphere of the earth and in the space
because of which no scattering of light takes place. Therefore sky appears black (instead of
blue) to an astronaut.

Q18: In visible spectrum, which colour has longest wavelength.

Answer: Red (that's why it deviates/scatters less).

Q19: Define angle of Prism.

Answer: The angle formed by two refracting surfaces (in case of prism) is called Angle of Prism.
As shown in figure, the apex angle A is called angle of prism.

As shown in figure, if incident ray P is extended to L and emergent ray is back-traced, both meet
at M. ∠LMQ is called angle of deviation. For practical purposes,

Q20: Why danger marks or signals are in red colour?

Answer: Red having longest wavelength, scatters less and hence more visible.

Q21: Why do you take time to see objects when you enter a dim lighted room from outside in
the sun?

Q22: What is the direction of rainbow formation? What is the position of red colour in a
rainbow?

Q23: What is the basic cause of atmospheric refraction?

Answer: The different layers of the atmosphere have a different optical density which is the
basic reason for atmospheric refraction experienced by the sunlight.
Q24 (Delhi CBSE Q Paper): The far point of a myopic person is 150 cm in front of the eye.
Calculate the focal length and the power of lens to enable him sees distant objects clearly.

Answer: Far point (v) = 150 cm

Using lens formula, 1/f = 1/v - 1/u
⇒ 1/f = (-1/150) - (-1/∞)
⇒ 1/f = -1/150
∴ f = -150cm
power = -100/150 = -2/3 = -0.66 D

VERY SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (SET 1)

Question 1: Name the essential parts of a human eye.

Answer: Cornea, Iris, Pupil, eye lens, ciliary muscles and retina.

Question 2: What is cornea??

Answer: Spherical membrane covering the front of the eye

Question 3: Which liquid fill the space behind the cornea?

Answer: Aqueous humour

Question 4: Which liquid fills the space between lens and retina?

Answer: vitreous humour

Question 5: How is the eye lens held in its position?

Answer: By Ciliary muscles which hold the eye in position.

Question 6: What is iris?

Answer: The coloured diaphragm between the cornea and lens

Question 7: Which part of the eye controls the amount of light entering the eye?

Answer: The pupil

Question 8: What is eye lens made of?

Answer: It is made of a jelly-like material

Question 9: How is the sense of vision carried from the eye to the brain?

Answer: Through the optic nerve

Question 10: What is a blind spot answer the point?

Answer: A spot on a retina at which the optic nerve leaves the eye.
Question 11: Why is blind spot so called?

Answer: An image formed at this point is not sent to the brain.

Question 12: What is the number of receptors contained in the retina?

Answer: It contains more than 125 million receptors.

Question 13: What is meant by accommodation of eye?

Answer: The ability of the eye lens to adjust its focal length is called accommodation.

Question 14: What is the other name of accommodation of an eye?

Answer: Power of accommodation

Question 15: What is meant by the far point?

Answer: The farthest point up to which eye can see clearly is called the far point of the eye.

Question 16: What is the near point of a normal human eye?

Answer: The nearest point up to which an eye can see clearly is called the near point of the eye.

Question 17: What is meant by the least distance of distinct vision of a normal human eye?

Answer: About 25 cm from the eye

Question 18: What is meant by least distance of distinct vision?

Answer: It is the minimum distance up to which eye can see clearly and is called the least distance of
distinct vision

Question 19: What is the least distance of distinct vision and human normal human eye?

Answer: It is around 25.

Question 20: What are the defects of vision of human eye?

Answer:
① myopia also called short-sightedness
② hypermetropia also called long sightedness
③ astigmatism

Question 21: What is near-sightedness?

Answer: It is the defect of the eye in which a person can the nearby objects clearly bu cannot see the far
away objects clearly.

Question 22: What is the other name of near-sightedness?

Answer: Myopia

Question 23: Give one cause of near-sightedness?

Answer: Decrease of the focal length of the eye lens.

Question 24: How is nearsightedness corrected?

Answer: Using a concave lens of suitable focal length.

Question 25: Where is the image formed in an eye suffering from near-sightedness?

Answer: The image formed in front of a retina.

Question 26: What is long sightedness?

Answer: It is a defect of the eye in which a person can see distant objects clearly but cannot see nearby
objects clearly.

Question 27: Give one reason of long sightedness.

Answer: Increase of the focal length of a lens

Question 28: Where is the image formed in an eye suffering from long sightedness?

Answer: The image formed behind the retina.

Question 29: How is long sightedness corrected?

Answer: By using a convex lens of suitable focal length.

Question 30: What is astigmatism?

Answer: It is a defect in which a person cannot see in all directions equally well.

Question 31: What is presbyopia?

Answer: Presbyopia is that effect of human eye due to which an old person cannot read and write
comfortably.

Question 32: What is the other name of presbyopia?

Answer: Its other name is an old sight.

Question 33: Name the colours of a visible spectrum.

Answer: The various colours are violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red (VIBGYOR).

Question 34: What is twinkling of stars due to?

Answer: Due to refraction of light by Earth's atmosphere.

Question 35: Define Dispersion of white light.

Answer: Splitting of white light into various constituents is called Dispersion of light

Question 36: What kind of lens is used in spectacles of a person suffering from myopia?

Answer: Concave lens

Question 37: What would have been the colour of sky if there was no atmosphere

Answer: it would be dark.

Question 38: Name the two phenomena involved in the formation of a rainbow?

Answer: (i) dispersion and (ii) total internal reflection

(NCERT CHAPTER Q & A, OTHER QUESTIONS ASKED IN CBSE

EXAM)
1. What is meant by power of accommodation of the eye? (NCERT)
Answer: The human eye can clearly see a nearby object as well as an object at infinity. Power
of accommodation is the ability of the eye lens to focus near and far objects clearly on the
retina by adjusting its focal length or the ability of the ciliary muscles to change the focal
length of the eye lens is called accommodation. When the ciliary muscles are relaxed, the eye
lens becomes thin, the focal length increases, and the distant objects are clearly visible to the
eyes. To see the nearby objects clearly, the ciliary muscles contract making the eye lens
thicker. Thus, the focal length of the eye lens decreases and the nearby objects become
visible to the eyes. Power of accommodation of the eye is limited. It implies the focal length
of the eye lens cannot be reduced beyond certain minimum limit.
2. What is the far Point of the eye? (NCERT)
Answer: It is the farthest point at which the object can be seen clearly. For a normal eye, the
far point lies at infinity.
or
The far point of the eye is the maximum distance upto which the eye can see the objects
clearly without strain. The far point of the normal human eye is infinity.
3. What is near point of the eye? (NCERT)
Answer: Near point of the Eye is the closest point at which an object can be seen clearly. For
a normal eye, the near point lies at 25 cm from the eye (least distance of distinct vision).
or
The near point of the eye is the minimum distance of the object from the eye, which can be
seen clearly. For a normal human eye, this distance is 25cm.
4. What is the far point and near point of the human eye with normal vision?
Answer: For the human eye with normal vision, the far point is at infinity and the near point
is at 25 cm from the eye.
5. Name the defects of vision.
Answer:
① Myopia (or) Short sightedness
② Hypermetropia (or) Long sightedness
③ Presbyopia
④ Astigmatism
6. Name the part of the human eye that helps in changing the focal length of the eye lens.
(CBSE 2011)
Answer: Ciliary muscles. (Note: Pupil regulates and controls the amount of light entering the
eye.)

7. A person with a myopic eye cannot see objects beyond 1.2 m distinctly. What should be the
type of the corrective lens used to restore proper vision? (NCERT)

Answer: The person is able to see nearby objects clearly, but he is unable to see objects
beyond 1.2m. This happens because the image of an object beyond 1.2 m is formed in front
of the retina and not at the retina, as shown in the given figure.

To correct this defect of vision, he must use a concave lens. The concave lens will bring the
image back to the retina as shown in the given figure.

The distance of far point x = 1.2m

To view distant objects, concave lens of focal length -1.2 should be used.

i.e. f = -x = -1.2m

Power of lens = 1/f = 1/(-1.2m) = -0.83D

8. A student has difficulty reading the blackboard while sitting in the last row. What could be
the defect the child is suffering from? How can it be corrected? (NCERT)

Answer: A student has difficulty in reading the blackboard while sitting in the last row. It
shows that he is unable to see distant objects clearly. He is suffering from myopia. This defect
can be corrected by using a concave lens.
 Myopic Eye Correction using Concave lens
9. A person needs a lens of power –5.5 dioptres for correcting his distant vision. For correcting
his near vision he needs a lens of power +1.5 dioptre. What is the focal length of the lens
required for correcting (i) distant vision, and (ii) near vision? (NCERT)
Answer:
The power P of a lens of focal length f is given by the relation

(i) For Distant vision: Given focal length (f) =? Power (P) = -5.5D

P = 1/f ⇒ f = 1/P = 1/(-5.5)m = -100/55cm = -18.2 cm

The focal length of the lens for correcting distant vision is −0.181 m.

(ii) For near vision: P = +1.5 D

⇒ f = 1/P = 1/1.5m = 1000/15cm = 66.7 cm

The focal length of the lens for correcting near vision is 0.667 m.

10. The far point of a myopic person is 80 cm in front of the eye. What is the nature and power
of the lens required to correct the problem?

Answer:
The person is suffering from an eye defect called myopia. In this defect, the image is formed
in front of the retina. Hence, a concave lens is used to correct this defect of vision.

Object distance, u = infinity =

Image distance, v = −80 cm
Focal length = f
 According to the lens formula,

We know,

A concave lens of power −1.25 D is required by the person to correct his defect.

11. Make a diagram to show how hypermetropia is corrected. The near point of a
hypermetropic eye is 1 m. What is the power of the lens required to correct this defect?
Assume that the near point of the normal eye is 25 cm.

Answer:
A person suffering from hypermetropia can see distant objects clearly but faces difficulty in
seeing nearby objects clearly. It happens because the eye lens focuses the incoming divergent
rays beyond the retina. This defect of vision is corrected by using a convex lens. A convex lens
of suitable power converges the incoming light in such a way that the image is formed on the
retina, as shown in the following figure.

The convex lens actually creates a virtual image of a nearby object (N’ in the figure) at the
near point of vision (N) of the person suffering from hypermetropia.

The given person will be able to clearly see the object kept at 25 cm (near point of the normal
eye), if the image of the object is formed at his near point, which is given as 1m.
 Object distance, u = −25 cm
Image distance, v = −1 m = −100 m
Focal length, f
Using the lens formula,

A convex lens of power +3.0 D is required to correct the defect.

12. What happens to the image distance in the eye when we increase the distance of an object
from the eye?
Answer:
Since the size of eyes cannot increase or decrease, the image distance remains constant.
When we increase the distance of an object from the eye, the image distance in the eye does
not change. The increase in the object distance is compensated by the change in the focal
length of the eye lens. The focal length of the eyes changes in such a way that the image is
always formed at the retina of the eye.

13. Why do stars twinkle?

OR
Explain why do stars twinkle and planets do not? (CBSE 2012)

Answer:
Stars emit their own light and they twinkle due to the atmospheric refraction of light. Stars
are very far away from the earth. Hence, they are considered as point sources of light. When
the light coming from stars enters the earth’s atmosphere, it gets refracted at different levels
because of the variation in the air density at different levels of the atmosphere. This is
because earth's atmosphere is moving and it consists of pockets of warm and cold air. Thus
the atmosphere has variations in refractive indices of air. Stars are very far away from the
 earth and emit their own light. When a star light enters the earth's atmosphere, it undergoes
multiple refractions and bends continuously towards the normal till it enters our eyes. Its
apparent position appears higher than the normal one. Due to mobility of air and variation in
temperature, this apparent position of star is not steady and moves continuously. When the
star light refracted by the atmosphere comes more towards us, it appears brighter than when
it comes less towards us. Therefore, it appears as if the stars are twinkling at night.

When in space (outside the earth's atmosphere) stars do not appear twinkle. Planets as
compared to stars are closer to the earth and appear bigger (we cannot consider them point
sized like stars). It nullifies the twinkling effect.

14. Explain why the planets do not twinkle?

Answer:
Planets do not twinkle because they appear larger in size than the stars as they are relatively
closer to earth. The distance between planets and the earth is less as compared to stars.
Planets cannot be considered as point sources. Planets can be considered as a collection of a
large number of point-size sources of light. The different parts of these planets produce either
brighter or dimmer effect in such a way that the average of brighter and dimmer effect is
zero. The apparent shift in their position due to their position cannot be observed because
they subtend greater angle at the eye. Hence, the twinkling effects of the planets are nullified
and they do not twinkle.

15. Why does the Sun appear reddish early in the morning?
Answer:
During sunrise, the light rays coming from the Sun have to travel a greater distance in the
earth’s atmosphere before reaching our eyes. In this journey, the shorter wavelengths of
lights are scattered out and only longer wavelengths are able to reach our eyes. Since blue
colour has a shorter wavelength and red colour has a longer wavelength, the red colour is
able to reach our eyes after the atmospheric scattering of light. Therefore, the Sun appears
reddish early in the morning.
16. Why does the sky appear dark instead of blue to an astronaut?
 Answer:
The sky appears dark instead of blue to an astronaut because there is no atmosphere in the
outer space that can scatter the sunlight. As the sunlight is not scattered, no scattered light
reach the eyes of the astronauts and the sky appears black to them.

17. A person cannot see the objects distinctly, when placed at a distance less than 50 cm.
(a) Identify the defect of vision.
b) Give two reasons for this defect.
(c) Calculate the power and nature of the lens he should be using to see clearly
the object placed at a distance of 25 cm from his eyes.
(d) Draw the ray diagrams for the defective and the corrected eye. (CBSE 2011)
Answer:
(a) Defect of vision = Hypermetropia or Long-sightedness

(b) Reasons for the defect are:

 Curvature of lens or retina becomes less than normal increases focal length.
 Ciliary muscles become stiff
 Shortening of eye ball due to which distance between retina and and lens
reduces and image is formed beyond retina.

(c) Given, u = -25 cm, v = -50cm, f = ?

Applying lens formula, 1/f = 1/v - 1/u

⇒1/f = -1/50 - (-1/25) = -1/50 + 1/25 = (-1+2) /50 = 1/50
⇒ f = 50cm = 0.5m
∴ Power of the lens = 1/f = 1/0.5m = +2D
∴ A convex lens having power of 2D can be used to correct the vision.

(d) Ray diagrams for the defective and the corrected eye.
18. A boy uses spectacles of focal length – 60 cm. Name the defect of vision he is suffering from.
Which lens is used for the correction of this defect? Compute the power of this lens. (CBSE
2011)
Answer: Given f = -60 cm =-0.60m

The -ve sign of focal length indicates that the lens is concave. ∴ the boy suffers from myopic
(short sightedness) vision.

Power of the lens = 1/f (in m) = 1/ (-0.60) = -1.67 D

19. What is Mirage? How does it occur?

Answer:
A mirage is an optical illusion which is generally observed in deserts or over hot surfaces like
a coal tarred road during hot summers. In summers, the layer near to earth surface is hotter
and lighter than upper layers of the air. Due to variation of optical densities of air layers, light
from an object (e.g. tree) undergoes series of internal reflections and bend upwards. It gives
an inverted virtual image below the seen object. To a distant traveler it gives shinning water
effect called mirage.

Mirage (1-Tree, 2 - cold and dense layer, 3 - Tree image,

4- hot layer of air, 5 - eye)
20. Why do we have two eyes instead of one? (CBSE)

Answer:
Having two eyes instead of one is advantageous for the following:
 Field of view is more with two eyes than one eye.
 Two eyes give us three dimensional visions (stereo vision) of an object.

21. Define dispersion of white light and name the colours of white light in order? (CBSE 2012)

Answer:
The splitting of light into its component colours is called dispersion. White light splits into
seven colours (VIBGYOR) i.e. violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Isaac Newton
was the first to use a glass prism to obtain the spectrum of sunlight.

22. List four common defects which can be corrected with the use of spectacles. (CBSE 2006)

Answer:
Four common defects that can be corrected by using spectacles:
a) Hypermetropia
b) Myopia
c) Astigmatism
d) Presbyopia

23. What are the causes of myopia?

Answer:
Causes of myopia are:
 Increase in the length of the eye ball leads to increase in distance of the retina from
the eye.
 Decrease in focal length of eye lens.

24. What is Tyndall effect?

Answer:
The scattering of light by colloidal particles is called Tyndall effect. When a beam of light
strikes the minute particles of earth’s atmosphere which are suspended particles of dust and
molecule of air the path of beam become visible. The phenomenon of scattering of light by
the colloidal particle is called Tyndall Effect. It can be observed when sunlight passes through
a canopy of a dense forest.

25. What is a persistence of vision?

Answer: The image of an object seen persists on the retina for 1/16 second even after the
removal of the object. This continuance of sensation of an eye for some time is called
persistence of vision.
26. Explain with a neat sketch the parts of eye and their function.
Human eye can be considered as an optical instrument. Light rays coming from the object to
be seen enter the eye through Cornea and fall on the eye lens through the pupil of the eye.

Parts of the human eye are:

Cornea:
The transparent spherical thin membrane covering the front of the eye. The light enters the
eye through this membrane. This is the outermost membrane which protects the eye.
Iris:
The colored diaphragm between the cornea and lens. It is a dark muscular diagram that
controls the size of the pupil. It acts like a door and it controls the amount of light entering
the eye along with pupil. It also gives colour to the eye.
Pupil:
The small hole in the iris. It controls the amount of light entering the eye.
Eye lens:
It is a transparent lens made of a jelly like material. It is a double convex lens forms a real
inverted and smaller image of the object on the retina. It helps in finer adjustment of focal
length needed to focus objects at different distance on retina.
Ciliary muscles:
These muscles hold the lens in position. These muscles are responsible for the change in
curvature of the eye lens and thereby the focal length. When they expand they make the eye
lens as fat which decreases the focal length of the lens and when they contract they form the
lens as thin which increases the focal length of the lens.
Retina:
The back surface of the eye. It is the surface which acts as a screen and image is formed on
it. It is the light sensitive screen. The retina contains light sensitive cells called rods and cones
to detect colour and intensity of the image. They convert light energy into electrical energy
and thereby they generate electrical signals to supply to optic nerves.
 Blind spot:
The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye. An image formed at this point is not sent
to the brain.
Aqueous humour:
A clear liquid region between the cornea and the lens. It is a fluid usually water which
maintains correct pressure balance inside the eye and refracts the light entering the eye.
Vitreous humour:
The space between eye lens and retina is filled with another liquid called Vitreous humour.
Ithold the spherical shape of the eye.

27. Why does the Sun appear reddish early in the morning?

Answer: Red colour scatters the least and hence travels the farthest. During early morning,
the sunlight has to travel a longer distance to reach us. During this, the blue colour is scattered
almost completely and the sun and the sky appear reddish.

28. Why does the sky appear dark instead of blue to an astronaut?

Answer: There is the vacuum in the space and hence no particle is available for scattering of
light. In the absence of scattering, none of the colours from the visible spectrum reach the
viewer’s eye and the sky appear dark to the astronaut.

29. How does colour of scattered light depend on colloidal particles?

Answer: The colour of the scattered light depends on the size of the scattering particles (as
shown below).
 THE HUMAN EYE AND THE COLOURFUL WORLD – UNIT TEST PAPER

Q1: A person cannot see distinctly objects kept beyond 2 m. This defect can be corrected by
using a lens of power which type?

Q2: Give reasons for the following:

i. Stars twinkle at night.
ii. The sun appears reddish early in morning.
iii. Planets do not twinkle.
iv. Red colour is used in danger signals.

Q3: A person walking in desert gets a illusion of seeing water. Name the phenomenon of light
responsible for it.

Q4: Distinguish between Refraction and Dispersion.

Q5: Explain how formation of rainbow occurs alongwith suitable diagram.

Q6: Explain apparent star position along with suitable diagram.

Q7: What is the speed of light in diamond if absolute refractive index of diamond is 2.4 and
velocity of light in vacuum is 3 × 10⁸ m/s ?

Q8: Why is the colour of the clear Sky Blue?

Q9: Make a diagram to show how hypermetropia is corrected. The near point of a
hypermetropic eye is 1 m. What is the power of the lens required to correct this defect?
Assume that the near point of the normal eye is 25 cm.

Q10: Why is a normal eye not able to see clearly the objects placed closer than 25 cm?

Q11: A student sitting at the back of the classroom cannot read clearly the letters written on
the blackboard. What advice will a doctor give to her? Draw ray diagram for the correction of
this defect.

Q12: Explain the refraction of light through a triangular glass prism using a labelled ray diagram.
Hence define the angle of deviation.