The eyeballs lie inside a bony cavity.
Connective tissue and fat surround the eyeball
to protect it from mechanical injury. The front of the eye is protected by eyelids,
which have eyelashes to stop foreign particles from entering the eye. The coloured
part of the eye is the known as the iris. The opening in the centre of the iris is the
pupil. The sclera is a white outer covering layer.
The internal eye can be divided into three layers: the sclera, choroid and the retina.
These layers, and other parts of the internal eye are shown in Figure 10 below.
ciliary body
sclera
suspensory
ligament choroid
retina
aqueous
humour
yellow spot
pupil
blind spot
cornea
optic nerve
iris
lens
vitreous humour
Figure 10: A longitudinal section of the eye
The structural adaptation and function of the parts of the eye shown above are laid
out in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Structural adaptations and functions of various parts of the eye
Structural adaptations Functions
sclera
tough, white inelastic layer that protects the inner structures of the
covers eye towards the posterior eye
adaptation: protection of the eye maintains the shape of the eye
because it is inelastic
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cornea
transparent continuation of the allows light to pass through
sclera in the front of the eye which causes refraction (bending) of the
is convex (bulgy) incoming light to create an image on
adaptation: transparency allows the retina
light to pass through; the convex
shape causes refraction (bending)
of the incoming light
choroid
a dark coloured layer which pigments absorb light to prevent the
contains blood vessels and reflection of light
pigments blood vessels supply nutrients and
oxygen to the cells of the retina
ciliary body
contains ciliary muscles and it is the ciliary muscles contract or relax to
thickened part at the anterior of the alter the tension on the suspensory
choroid ligaments
suspensory ligaments
ligaments attached to the ciliary suspensory ligaments hold the lens
body in position during accommodation
tension on the suspensory
ligaments changes to alter the
shape of the lens
iris
the coloured portion of the eye, with controls the amount of light entering
an opening at its centre, called the the eye through the pupillary
pupil; the iris contains two types of mechanism
muscles to control the size of the
pupil
retina
inner layer of the eye which rods respond to low intensity light,
contains the rods and cones that provide night vision as well as
are sensitive to light peripheral vision
cones respond to bright light and
provide sharp, clear colour vision
neurons carry impulses from the
rods and cones through the optic
nerve to the cerebrum
yellow spot
small indentation at the back of the
area of clearest vision
eyeball containing the most cones
blind spot
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small area on the retina, below the area of no vision
yellow spot; contains no rods or
cones, and hence no vision
area where the blood vessels enter inner parts of the eye are supplied
the eye with oxygen and nutrients
area where the optic nerve leaves impulses are transmitted to the
the eye cerebrum for interpretation
lens
elastic and biconvex structure changes shape to allow the eye to
behind the pupil of the iris; held in focus on near and distant objects
place by suspensory ligaments
transparent allows light to pass through
aqueous humour
watery fluid found in the space maintains the shape of the cornea
between the cornea and the lens plays a small role in the refraction of
the incoming light
vitreous humour
jelly-like substance found behind maintains the shape of the eyeball
the lens plays a small role in the refraction of
the incoming light
Structures of the human eye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syaQgmxb5i0
Accommodation
Accommodation is the ability of the eye to alter the shape of the lens to ensure that a
clear image always falls on the retina whether the object is near or distant. The
process is explained in Table 4 below, and illustrated in Figures 11A for near vision
and 11B for distant vision.
Table 4: Accommodation of the human eye
Near vision Distant vision
(less than 6 m from the object) (more than 6 m from the object)
ciliary muscles contract ciliary muscles relax
suspensory ligaments slacken suspensory ligaments tighten
(loosen) (become taut)
tension on the lens decreases tension on the lens increases
lens becomes more convex (bulgy) lens becomes less convex (flatter)
this causes light rays to bend more this causes light rays to bend less
a clear image is focused on the a clear image is focused on the
retina retina
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