1. How do eyes work?
2. How do we see an image?
Explanation:
1. Â
The images we see are made up of light reflected from the objects we look at. This light enters the eye through the cornea, which acts like a window at the front of the eye. The amount of light entering the eye is controlled by the pupil, which is surrounded by the iris – the coloured part of the eye.
Because the front part of the eye is curved, it bends the light, creating an upside down image on the retina. The brain eventually turns the image the right way up.
The retina is a complex part of the eye, and its job is to turn light into signals about images that the brain can understand. Only the very back of it is light sensitive: this part of the retina is roughly the area of a 10p coin, and is packed with photosensitive cells called rods and cones.
Cones are the cells responsible for daylight vision. There are three kinds, each responding to a different wavelength of light: red, green and blue. The cones enable us to see images in colour and detail. Rods are responsible for night vision. They are sensitive to light but not to colour. In darkness, the cones do not function at all.
2.
The lens is a clear disc-like structure that helps to focus light on the retina. It can do this because it is adjustable, and uses a muscle called the ciliary muscle to change shape and help us focus on objects at different distances. The automatic focusing of the lens is a reflex response and is not controlled by the brain.
Once the image is clearly focused on the sensitive part of the retina, energy in the light that makes up that image creates an electrical signal. Nerve impulses can then carry information about that image to the brain through the optic nerve.
Other parts of the eye include the aqueous humour, a liquid which sits in a chamber behind the cornea, and the vitreous humour, the clear gel that fills the space between the lens and the retina. The sclera is the white part of the eye, forming an outer layer that protects everything inside, while the choroid is the layer of the eye that lies between the retina and the sclera. It is made up of layers of blood vessels that nourish the back of the eye.
