Activity 1: Sensing Properties of the Human Eye

We’ve been gifted with the sense of sight. The human eye provides us to see a glimpse of the wonderful universe we’re living. Because of our eyes, we were able to appreciate the beauty of every living organism, architectural designs and our loved ones.

Curiosity arises in the human race. Scientists tend to discover the laws of nature, investigate on different behaviors, etc. For years and years, scientists have produced vital contributions for the development of our lives. The eye for example, scientists have studied its anatomy and physiology. In terms of physics, the human eye is considered as a simple lens.

Today out of our curiosity, we will perform different tests to observe the sensing properties of our eye. The table below shows the minimum focus distance of our eyes. Left and right eyes were also tested independently.

Table 1:  Minimum focus distance of the subjects.

The measured distances were acquired just before the individual was not able to read the object using a tape measure. The data shows that the human subjects’ eyes have a focus of 14 and 11 cm respectively. Upon testing individual eyes, we can say that each side has its own focus.

The second test that we did was to check our maximum angle of peripheral vision. Each eye will be tested with different pen orientations. Table 2 shows the results of aiming the maximum peripheral vision.

Table 2:  Maximum angle of peripheral vision for the test subjects.

According to Ma’am Jing, chicken eyes have peripheral vision of more than 90 o. So, are we to conclude that Aivin and I have the sight of a chicken? HAHA. This was done by placing a thread to a vertical and horizontal pen connected with a protractor which is centered at the desired eye to be tested. We have concluded, in our case that we have a wide range in our peripheral vision. We can see you if you are located approximately 100 degrees behind us.

The table below shows the vertical and horizontal distances of the reader towards the object. From those distances, we will be able to obtain the visual acuity of the person. Visual acuity, in this activity, is defined as the maximum angle until the reader could not recognize the letters any longer. We could use the right triangle formula in order to get the visual acuity of the individual.

Table 3:  Visual acuity corresponding to the test subjects.

We considered the vertical distance as the distance of the object to the viewer while the horizontal distance is from the target letter to the letter last recognizable. From that judgment, the opposite side would be the horizontal distance and the adjacent side would be the vertical distance. Jonats’ visual acuity is 2.24 degrees while Aivin’s is 1.69 degrees.

The last table shows the colors perceived by Aivin and Jonats and the two volunteers namely Shua and Celina as they exposed themselves to a dark place. The colors are randomly arranged inside the garbage plastic and will be perceived as light is introduced inside the room.

Table 4:  Results for the scotopic and photopic vision test for each of the test subjects.