Board Formulas

Human Eye and Colourful World

Human eye structure, defects of vision and their correction, dispersion, scattering — NCERT Class 10 Physics Ch 11

📐 8 formulas✏️ 3 examples🎯 6 practice⚖️ 5 marks🏫 CBSE📚 Class 10✓ 2025–26 syllabus
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Board Exam Tips

  • Defects of vision — myopia, hypermetropia, presbyopia — a 3-mark question is almost guaranteed.
  • Draw ray diagrams for defect and its correction using lens: mark the defective far/near point clearly.
  • Power of correcting lens: use P = 1/f with sign. Concave lens for myopia (negative P), convex for hypermetropia (positive P).
  • Rayleigh's scattering ∝ 1/λ⁴ — explain blue sky and red sunrise/sunset in your own words.
  • Prism dispersion: red bends least, violet bends most. Do NOT reverse the order.

📊 Diagram

F

Ray diagram of dispersion of white light by a glass prism into VIBGYOR

📐 Formulas(8)

1

Power of Accommodation

2

Least Distance of Distinct Vision

3

Focal Length for Myopia Correction★ Board fav

4

Focal Length for Hypermetropia Correction★ Board fav

5

Power of Lens (Dioptres)

6

Angle of Deviation in a Prism

7

Rayleigh Scattering Intensity

8

Snell's Law at Prism Faces

✏️ Solved Examples

1Solved Exampleeasy3 steps

A person's far point is 80 cm. What lens should be prescribed?

1

This is myopia — the far point is at a finite distance, not infinity.

2Solved Exampleboard4 steps

A hypermetropic person cannot see objects closer than 100 cm. Calculate the focal length and power of the correcting lens (D = 25 cm).

1

Defective near point y = 100 cm; normal D = 25 cm

3Solved ExampleHOTS4 steps

Why does the Sun appear reddish at sunrise and sunset while the sky at midday appears blue? Answer using Rayleigh's law.

1

Rayleigh's law: intensity of scattered light is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength

⚠️ Traps & Common Mistakes

⚠️Common Mistakes6
  • 1

    Prescribing a convex lens for myopia and concave for hypermetropia

    Myopia (short-sighted, image forms IN FRONT of retina) → CONCAVE lens (diverges rays). Hypermetropia → CONVEX.

  • 2

    Forgetting the sign of focal length while computing power

    Concave lens f < 0 ⇒ P < 0. Always keep sign in P = 1/f.

  • 3

    Assuming presbyopia is corrected with a single lens

    Presbyopia is age-related loss of accommodation — needs BIFOCAL lens (concave upper for distance, convex lower for reading).

  • 4

    Reversing the VIBGYOR sequence

    Violet bends MOST, red bends LEAST. On the screen: Red on top, Violet at bottom (for a normal prism setup).

  • 5

    Saying sky is blue because water absorbs red light

    It's atmospheric SCATTERING, not absorption. Rayleigh's 1/λ⁴ rule.

  • 6

    Confusing accommodation with adaptation

    Accommodation = change of focal length by ciliary muscles. Adaptation = adjusting to change of brightness by pupil size.

🎯 Practice Yourself

🎯Practice Yourself6 questions
  1. Q1

    A myopic person cannot see beyond 50 cm. Find the focal length and power of the corrective lens.

  2. Q2

    The near point of a hypermetropic eye is 75 cm. Find the power of the correcting lens (D = 25 cm).

  3. Q3

    Why do stars twinkle but planets do not?

  4. Q4

    Why is the danger signal red?

  5. Q5

    State two functions of the ciliary muscles.

  6. Q6

    A prism produces a spectrum from white light. Name the seven colours and state which bends most and least.

📝 Notes

Human Eye and Colourful World

Our eye is a remarkable optical instrument — a self-adjusting camera with a variable-focus lens.

Structure of the eye (must-know parts)

  • Cornea: transparent front bulge; does most of the refraction.
  • Iris & pupil: iris controls pupil size, regulating light entering.
  • Eye lens: convex, flexible; ciliary muscles change its focal length (accommodation).
  • Retina: screen at the back with rods (dim light) and cones (colour).
  • Optic nerve: carries signals to the brain.

Three common defects

| Defect | Cause | Correction | |---|---|---| | Myopia (short sight) | Eyeball too long / lens too curved | Concave lens | | Hypermetropia (long sight) | Eyeball too short / lens too flat | Convex lens | | Presbyopia | Ciliary muscles weaken with age | Bifocal lens |

Dispersion and prism

White light is a mixture of seven colours. When it enters a glass prism, each wavelength refracts by a slightly different amount because n depends on λ. Result: VIBGYOR spectrum on a screen. Recombining with an inverted prism gives back white light — proving colours are constituents of white light (Newton's experiment).

Atmospheric optics — Rayleigh scattering

I ∝ 1/λ⁴ explains:

  • Blue sky: blue scatters ~10× more than red at midday.
  • Red Sun at horizon: long slant path scatters blue away, only red reaches us.
  • White clouds: water droplets are large enough that all colours scatter equally.
  • Red danger signal: longest wavelength, least scattered — visible farthest.

Quick sanity checks

  • Least distance of distinct vision for a normal adult eye = 25 cm.
  • Normal eye can see from 25 cm to infinity.
  • Range of accommodation ≈ 2 dioptres.

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