Introduction to Its Function
The human eye is an amazing organ. The human eye is connected to the sensory nervous system and connected also to the brain. They can recognize and tell the difference between as many as 10 million colors. Inside the eye, there is a network of rods and cones which are sensitive to light or shadow, which in turn communicate to the brain what wavelengths the different colors vibrate too. For example, the eye’s rods and cones, which distinguish the different colors, are sensitive down to a billionth of a meter, which is called a micron.
Importance of Rods and Cones
The rods and cones are lined up in a row along with the cornea of the eye and allow them to measure each wavelength that hits the eyes’ surface which, in turn, tells the brain what wavelengths the eye is looking at.
The eye can also adjust the intensity of light hitting the eye by opening or shutting the pupil of the eye. The eye works without rest many hours of the day while we are awake, but it also “stays awake” in our dreams, allowing us to see in black and white or in color while we sleep through our dreams. Though dreaming is a purely psychological phenomenon, it imitates the eyes’ ability to see its object.
Pilots and Surgeons
The pilot and the surgeon have a great responsibility for the life of their passengers or patients and each needs the assistance of the eye in different ways. For the pilot who has to travel through thick clouds and weather, the eye is needed to read the monitors that can help him see through the clouds by radar. The surgeon needs to rely upon the eye, even when looking thru surgical loupes, to assist in coordinating his hand movement in order to not harm his patient’s life.
Distinguishing Colors
When we look at a picture, the reds are red only because the cones in the eye register the light spectrum and the rods in the eye, adjust to the shades in the image. The eye “knows” what spectrum of light the color is communicating and it distinguished it from all the other 9,999,999 other colors and sees the color “red.” The eye can deflect the wavelengths that do not register with specific rods and cones and, like a window shade, only allows so much light to enter the room. Example, if the eye is looking at a strawberry, it deflects all the other colors and absorbs the strawberry color, distinguishing it from the rose color seen earlier because the shades of the strawberry and other characteristics communicate to the brain the distinctive wavelengths associated with each light spectrum.
Outdoor Fun
So amazing is the eye that when we are outdoors, it can distinguish between thousands of colors at once. It can combine the hues and colors that are physically near to the eye as well as those that are distant. The mechanics of what takes place in the eye is a kind of motor vision that allows the eye to help us to enjoy the depths of our experiences ranging from the largest to the most minute in our experiences. The eye’s ability to understand the shades among colors allows it to color differentiate the football field from the people in the stands, the football flying through the air, as well as the referee on the field. The eyes are not only color-sensitive, but they are also sensitive to the brightness of light that can harm the eye, so it can control the amount of light that can reach the eye, especially in the noonday sun or standing in a desert sun.
Brain Surgeon or Football Hero
The eye has millions of ways to adjust to all our needs and talents. Whether we are a gymnast that must spin in the air and land on a specific place, a brain surgeon that must be able to distinguish between the different synapses in the brain while looking at it through a microscope, it can adjust to capture all of the potentials of the human experience. The eye can also help us to celebrate amid a colorful fireworks display or the overhead flying of a hundred hot air balloons in different arrays of color. The eye doesn’t work alone. It works with all of the other senses and coordinates our hand and foot movement to avoid things which can harm us. The eye, combined with all the other senses, works wonders in the human experience.
