The Human Eye and the Colourful World · medium

Myopia (Near-sightedness)

Your eye focuses distant objects in front of the retina instead of on it, so far things blur, near things stay sharp.

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Rays converge in front of the retina, before the image can form, so distant objects blur.

Think of your eye like a camera that's slightly 'over-zoomed'. In a myopic eye, either the eyeball is a little too long, or the lens curves a bit too much. Both mean light from far-away objects bends too early and meets at a point before it reaches the retina, so by the time it actually hits the retina, the image has already spread back out into a blur.

Nearby objects are unaffected because their light rays are already diverging more when they enter the eye, so they still land correctly on the retina.

The fix: a concave (diverging) lens placed in front of the eye spreads the light out slightly before it enters, pushing the focus point back exactly onto the retina.

  • Far point is nearer than infinity (not at infinity, like a normal eye)
  • Caused by: (i) elongated eyeball, or (ii) excessive curvature of the lens
  • Image of a distant object forms in front of the retina
  • Corrected using a concave lens of suitable (negative) power

Defects of Vision: Myopia & Hypermetropia with Numericals, CBSE Physics · CBSE Physics

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