Questions:

1. What is the function of the iris in the human eye?

2. What is the range of vision for a healthy human eye?
3. Define power of accommodation of the eye.
4. What causes presbyopia?
5. Name two phenomena caused by atmospheric refraction.
6. Why is the sky dark for an astronaut in space?
7. What is the least distance of distinct vision?
8. Which part of the eye controls the amount of light entering it?

9. Why do stars twinkle but planets do not?

10. State two differences between myopia and hypermetropia.
11. Why does the sun appear reddish at sunrise or sunset?
12. What is dispersion of light? Give an example.
13. Explain the role of ciliary muscles in accommodation.
14. Why does the sky appear blue?
15. What is cataract? How is it treated?
16. What is a rainbow? What conditions are essential for its formation?

17. Explain the correction of myopia with the help of a ray diagram.
18. Explain atmospheric refraction and give an example from daily life.
19. What is the Tyndall effect? Mention two examples.
20. Draw a labelled diagram of the human eye and write the function of the retina, cornea,
and pupil.
21. Why do we see the twinkling of stars more on a windy night?
22. A student cannot see objects clearly beyond 2 m. Name the defect and state its cause
and correction.

23. Describe the formation of a rainbow in the sky. Use a diagram.

24. Explain the structure and working of the human eye with a neat labelled diagram.
25. What is hypermetropia? Explain its correction with a ray diagram.
26. State the causes, effects, and correction of presbyopia.
27. Explain scattering of light and discuss the colour of:

 Clear sky
 Sun at noon
 Sun at sunrise/sunset

28. Explain how white light splits into seven colours in a glass prism. Draw a labelled
diagram.

29. A person has a near point of 50 cm. What is the power of the lens required to correct
this defect?
30. The far point of a defective eye is 1.5 m. What lens power is required to enable the
person to see distant objects clearly?
31. A hypermetropic person has a near point of 100 cm. Calculate the power of the lens
required to correct his vision for normal reading distance (25 cm).
Answers:

1. Function of the iris: Controls the diameter of the pupil and hence the amount of light
entering the eye.
2. Range of vision for a healthy eye: Approximately from 25 cm (near point) to infinity
(far point).
3. Power of accommodation: Maximum change in the eye-lens power when the eye
changes focus from far point to near point (ability to focus on objects at different
distances).
4. Cause of presbyopia: Loss of elasticity of the eye’s lens with age, so the lens cannot
become sufficiently convex to focus on near objects.
5. Two phenomena caused by atmospheric refraction: (i) Apparent early sunrise and
late sunset, (ii) Twinkling of stars (partly) and apparent flattening of the sun near
horizon.
6. Why the sky is dark in space: There is no atmosphere to scatter sunlight toward the
observer; space is essentially vacuum, so no scattering → dark background.
7. Least distance of distinct vision: About 25 cm for a normal young adult.
8. Part controlling amount of light: Iris (pupil is the opening whose size iris regulates).

9. Why stars twinkle but planets do not: Twinkling (scintillation) happens because
starlight (point source) passes through turbulent atmosphere and small refractive
index variations cause rapid intensity and position changes. Planets are extended discs
(not point sources) so atmospheric fluctuations average out — they don’t appear to
twinkle (or twinkle much less).
10. Two differences between myopia and hypermetropia:

 Myopia (near-sighted): Distant objects appear blurred; image forms in front of retina.
Corrected with concave (diverging) lens.
 Hypermetropia (far-sighted): Near objects appear blurred; image tends to form behind
retina. Corrected with convex (converging) lens.

11. Why sun appears reddish at sunrise/sunset: Sunlight passes through a larger
thickness of atmosphere; shorter wavelengths (blue/green) are scattered out, leaving
longer wavelengths (red/orange) to reach the observer.
12. Dispersion of light (definition + example): Splitting of white light into its
component colours due to wavelength-dependent refractive index (example: prism
showing seven colours).
13. Role of ciliary muscles in accommodation: Ciliary muscles change the curvature
(and thus focal length) of the eye-lens: contraction makes lens more convex for near
vision; relaxation flattens lens for distant vision.
14. Why sky appears blue: Molecules in the atmosphere scatter shorter wavelengths
(blue) more effectively (Rayleigh scattering), so scattered blue light reaches our eyes.
15. What is cataract & treatment: Opacity/clouding of the eye’s lens leading to blurred
vision; treated surgically by removing the cloudy lens and replacing it with an
artificial intraocular lens.
16. What is a rainbow & essential conditions: Rainbow is colored circular arc formed
by dispersion, refraction and internal reflection of sunlight in raindrops. Essential:
Sunlight + water droplets + observer with sun behind them.

17. Correction of myopia (with ray diagram — description):

 Defect: Image of distant objects forms in front of retina (eye too strong or eyeball too
long).
 Correction: Use a concave (diverging) lens of appropriate negative power placed in
front of eye. The concave lens makes parallel rays diverge slightly so that the eye’s
lens forms the image on the retina.
 Diagram to draw: Show parallel rays from a distant object entering concave lens,
diverging so they appear to come from a virtual image at the eye’s far point; then
show the eye forming a retinal image. Label: concave lens, virtual rays, retina, cornea,
pupil.

18. Atmospheric refraction + daily life example: Atmospheric refraction is bending of

light due to change in air density with height. Example: Sun appears slightly above its
true position when rising/setting (apparent early sunrise / late sunset).
19. Tyndall effect + examples: Scattering of light by colloidal particles making the path
of beam visible. Examples: (i) Light beam in fog, (ii) Dusty room beam, (iii) Blue
appearance of smoke in some cases.
20. Labelled diagram of human eye (what to include & functions):

 Draw and label: Cornea, iris, pupil, lens, ciliary muscles, retina, optic nerve, sclera,
vitreous humor.
 Functions (brief):
o Retina: Light-sensitive layer; contains rods and cones; converts light to nerve
impulses.
o Cornea: Transparent front surface; does major part of refraction (bending) of
incoming light.
o Pupil: Aperture that controls amount of light entering (size controlled by iris).

21. Why twinkling more on a windy night: Wind causes more turbulence and
temperature gradients in the atmosphere, increasing fluctuations in refractive index →
greater rapid changes in apparent position and brightness of star.
22. Student cannot see beyond 2 m — defect, cause, correction:

 Defect: Myopia (near-sightedness).

 Cause: Eye-ball too long or cornea/lens too curved → image of distant objects forms
in front of retina.
 Correction: Concave (diverging) lens with power chosen so that distant rays are
focused on retina (lens makes parallel rays diverge to the eye’s far point).

23. Formation of a rainbow (description + diagram points):

 Sunlight enters a spherical raindrop → refracts (bends) and disperses into colours,
internally reflects from the back surface of the drop, then refracts again as it leaves the
drop. Different colours emerge at slightly different angles (red about 42° from
original direction, violet about 40°), forming a circular arc of colours as seen by
observer with sun behind them.
 Diagram: Draw single raindrop, incident parallel sunlight, refracted rays inside drop,
internal reflection, emergent rays at different angles; indicate red outer and violet
inner. Mention primary rainbow angles (~42° red, ~40° violet).

24. Structure & working of human eye (concise):

 Structure: Cornea (transparent), aqueous humor, iris (with pupil), lens (flexible),
ciliary muscles, vitreous humor, retina, optic nerve, sclera.
 Working: Cornea + lens refract light to form a real, inverted image on retina.
Photoreceptors convert light to electrical signals → optic nerve → brain (visual
cortex) interprets signals; brain inverts image to perceive upright. Accommodation is
achieved by ciliary muscles changing lens curvature for focusing at different
distances.

25. Hypermetropia & correction (with ray diagram description):

 Defect: Eye focuses near objects behind retina (eye too short or lens too weak) →
trouble with near vision.
 Correction: Use convex (converging) lens. The convex lens converges rays from
near object so that the eye-lens can focus them on retina.
 Diagram to draw: Object at near point, convex lens in front converging rays so that
image forms on retina. Label lens, rays, retina.

26. Presbyopia — causes, effects, correction:

 Causes: Aging → lens loses elasticity, ciliary muscles weaken.

 Effects: Difficulty focusing on near objects; near point recedes.
 Correction: Reading glasses (convex lenses) of appropriate positive power;
sometimes bifocals for combined near and distance correction.

27. Scattering of light & colours:

 Scattering: Redirection of light by particles smaller or comparable to wavelength.

Rayleigh scattering (particles ≪ wavelength) scatters shorter wavelengths more.
 Colour cases:
o Clear sky: Blue due to Rayleigh scattering of shorter wavelengths.
o Sun at noon: Appears whiteish (or yellowish) because sunlight path through
atmosphere is shorter — less selective scattering; mixture of colours reaches
observer.
o Sun at sunrise/sunset: Reddish because long path through atmosphere scatters
short wavelengths out of direct path; longer wavelengths (red) dominate.

28. White light splitting by a prism (concise explanation and diagram):

 Different wavelengths of light have different refractive indices in glass; when white
light enters prism it refracts at first surface and disperses into component colours;
internal refraction and emergent refraction further separate colours producing
spectrum (Violet deviates most, Red least).
 Diagram to draw: Prism, incident white beam, refracted coloured fan, label red (least
deviation) and violet (most deviation).