WEEK: 3 – 4

CONTENT: OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

All optical instruments make use of lenses or mirror and operate on the principle of refraction
and reflection of light.

Some of these instruments are:

1. The Human Eye

2. Camera
3. Microscope
4. Telescope
5. Slide Projector

THE HUMAN EYE

The human eye is a pair located in the eye sockets of the brain which is held in position by some muscles that
connect the blood vessels with nerve cell.

The optical system of the eye consist of the cornea, the aqueous, the vitreous humour and the lens. They form a real
and inverted image of an external object on the retina. The retina transmits the impression created on it by the image
through the optic nerve to the brain. The brain then interpretes the impression. The amount of light entering the eye
through the pupil is regulated by the iris.)

The diagram of the human eye is shown in the figure above

(1) The Cornea
This is a protrusion in the front view; it is responsible for the refractive power of the eye. It has
refractive power twice that of the eye lens.
(2) Aqueous Humour
This is located between the cornea and the lens. Front liquid for the initial transmission of light
is stored on it. It helps to maintain the shape of the eyeball.
(3) Iris
Located just before the lens: it acts as a control for the amount of light passing to the retina (by
expanding or contracting) via the lens (4) Lens
This is located between the aqueous and vitreous humour and is responsible for the
accommodation property of the eye.
(5) Ciliary Muscle
Located at the edges of the lens, varies the complexity of the lens and hence its focal length. (6)
Suspensory Ligament
It acts as a support for the lens.
(7) Citreous Humour
Located between the lens and the retina. Back liquid for the final transmission of light is stored
on it. It also helps to maintain the shape of the eyeball.
(8) Retina
Located behind the lens at the edge of the vitreous humour light is focused on the retina and
image is formed on it especially at a point called the fovea. It also contains typical brain cells as
well as specialized lights cell example cones and rods. The cones are for daylight vision while
rods are for night vision. (9) Choroid and Sclerotic
Are the inner first and second layers of the retina respectively and supports the retina for
effective functioning.
(10) Blind Spot
Located at the central part of the outer part of the optic nerve. It corresponds to the point where
nerve fibres leave the eye to the brain (and it has no nerves in itself)
(11) Optic Nerve
These are axons (Connecting verves) that connect the eyes to the brain. There are about 10 6
nerve fibres.

DEFECTS OF VISION AND CORRECTION OF DETECTS

Eye defect is a disease of the eye which is experienced when light refraction coming from the
object through the lens is not properly focused on the retina. It may be before or beyond the
retina, wrong image, untrue colour image or blurred image.

Some of the eye defects are:

(i) Myopia or shortsightedness

(ii) Hypermetropia or longsightedness

(iii) Astigmatism

(iv) Presbyopia

(a) LONG SIGHT (HYPERMETROPIA)

A long sighted person can see objects at a distance but cannot see close objects clearly. His near point is more than
25cm which is the near point of the normal eye. It is caused by the eye ball being too short so that rays from object
at 25cm from the eye are brought to focus behind the retina. It is corrected by converging lens placed in front of the
eye for near vision.
(b) SHORT SIGHT (MYOPIA)
A short sighted person cannot see distant objects clearly as rays from such objects are focused in front of the retina.
His far point is less than the normal far point which is at infinity. It is corrected by the use of diverging lens. The
diverging lens makes the object at infinity to appear to be at the person's far point.

Astigmatism
The refracting surface of the eye has widely varying curvatures in different planes.
Causes
This arises due to old age or loss of power of the lens.
Correction
Cylindrical lenses are used
Presbyopia
This is a lack of power of accommodation
Causes
Hardening or inelasticity of the eye lens due to old age.
Correction
This can be corrected using a bifocal lens (upper convex lens and lower concave lens)
THE LENS CAMERA

We use the came in taking photograph by placing the object in front of it. The image is formed on
a light-sensitive paper called the film. The amount of light entering the camera is controlled by
the size of the aperture. The shutter controls the length of time for where the film is exposed to
light. The structure and function of the camera are very similar to that of the human eye.

COMPARISON OF EYE AND CAMERA

Similarities between the Human Eye and the Camera

S/N Human Eye Lens Camera

1 Has a converging lens system Has a converging lens

2 The image formed on the light-sensitive retina The image formed on light-sensitive film

3 An inverted image is formed An inverted image is formed

4 Amount of light entering the eye is controlled by Amount of the light entering the camera is
the size of the pupil controlled by the Aperture

5 Inner walls are pigmented black. (Tight) The walls are black (light)

Differences between the Human Eye and the Camera

S/ Human Eye Lens Camera
N
1 The focal length of the lens is variable. The focal length of the lens is fixed
2 The image distance is fixed The image distance is variable
3 Biological organ Mechanical device
4 The eyelids remain open continuously as the The shutter works on the simulation of light before
retina forms series of constantly changing photographs can be taken.
 pictures with continuous motion.

Microscope

A microscope is an instrument used to view near object and it is in normal use when the final
image is formed at the near point of the eye. There are two types of microscope, simple
microscope and compound microscope. The simple microscope has one convex lens while the
come microscope has two convex lenses called the objective lens and eyepiece lens respectively.
The focal length of the eyepiece lens is longer than that of the objective lens.

SIMPLE MICROSCOPE

The object is kept between the focus and the lens and the final virtual, enlarges and erect image is
formed between F and 2F (figure 1). When the microscope is in abnormal use, the object is at the
focus and the final, virtual, erect and magnified image is formed at infinity (figure 2).
THE COMPOUND MICROSCOPE

The compound microscope produces a greater magnification than the simple microscope. It has
two lenses, the objective lens which has a short focal length and the eye piece used as the
magnifying glass to view an image formed by the objective lens.

The image formed by the objective lens is within the principal focus of the piece. So a final
image is formed at the least distance of distinctive vision from the eye.

It is made up of two convex lenses, objective and eyepiece lenses, both with short focal lengths
as shown in the figure 1 below. The object O, is kept at a distance greater than the focal length of
the objective lens. The first image II formed is between the focus and the eyepiece lens which
serves as a magnifying lens to the image II. A final magnified, virtual, inverted image I2 is
formed.
The angular magnification, M is given by:

THE TELESCOPE

This is an optical instrument used for observing different objects. It brings the object close when
viewing through it. There are many types, which include

Astronomical Telescope

This is used for viewing heavenly bodies. It has two convex lenses. The objective has a focal
length while the eyepiece has a short focal length. In normal adjustment, the principal foci of the
objective lens and the eyepiece coincide. Hence the distance between the lenses is fo + fe. For
telescope in normal adjustment, the final image is at infinity.

Galilean Telescope

Produces an erect image. It consists of an objective lens which is a diverging lens and an
eyepiece which is a convex lens.
Terrestrial Telescope

This is used for viewing object on the surface of the earth. It consists of two converging lenses,
the objective and the eyepiece. A third converging lens called re-inverting lens is placed in
between the objective and the eyepiece. The final image is erect due to the reinverting lens.

The Prism Binoculars

This is a small version of the terrestrial telescope. In addition to the objective lens and eyepiece,
it has two reflecting prisms. The re-inverting lens in thee terrestrial telescope makes it to be too
long. The prism binocular solves this problem because it is a compact instrument.

SLIDE PROJECTOR

This equipment is used for projecting a real image of a transparent picture onto a screen. The
components and structure as shown in the diagram below include concave mirror, light source
(e.g. lamp), condenser, the slide, convex lens and the screen. The transparent picture (slide or
film) is illuminated by the lamp.

WEEK: 5 – 6 TOPIC: DISPERSION OF WHITE LIGHT

Dispersion is defined as the separation of white light into its component colours.
This separation is due to the fact that different colours of white light travels at different speed
through the glass.
In a vacuum and in air, all the colours of white light travel at the same speed. But in glass, the
colours travel at different speeds.Thus, a glass prism can separate or dispute white light into its
various colours or wavelengths.
 .
Production of a pure spectrum
The spectrum described above is an impure spectrum, because the different bands of colour overlap. A spectrum in
which such an overlap does not occur is called a pure spectrum. This can be obtained by using an arrangement of
converging lenses in addition to the glass prism.

White light from a source passes through a narrow slit and are incident on the first converging lens. The slit is
located at the focus of the lens, and hence the white light is rendered parallel after refraction through the lens. Thus,
a beam of parallel light is incident on the glass prism. In this way, rays of the same colour will suffer the same
amount of deviation by the prism, and each colour will emerge as a parallel beam. They are then brought to focus
by the second converging lens. The different colours, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet are then
brought to different foci on the screen.

COLOUR MIXING
Each colour of light has its own characteristic wavelength. If the light if the yellow wavelength enters the eye, it
sees yellow. However, if a mixture of red and green light enters the eye it also sees yellow. All the colours that the
eye sees can be made by mixing three basic colours, these three colours, which are called primary colours, are red,
blue and green.
The colour made by mixing any two primary colours are called secondary colours. These are:
(i) red + blue = magenta
(ii) blue + green = cyan
(iii) green + red = yellow
The mixing of coloured lights is known as additive mixing. All the three primary colours mix together to give white
light.
Red + blue + green = white
The operation of colour movies is based on addictive colour mixing.
COLOURED FILTERS
Coloured filters are made out of coloured glass. A coloured filter transmits its own colour, but absorbs any other
colour which falls on it.

COLOURED PIGMENT
An object can only be seen when light is reflected from it into the eye. The substance which gives an object its
colour is called a pigment. A pigment absorbs all colours except its own, which it reflects.

A black pigment absorbs all colours and reflects none. A white pigment reflects all colours. Coloured objects such
as pigments (paints) used by painters can also be mixed together. The mixing of colours pigments is known as
subtractive mixing.