Imagine a world without sight, some have to endure this darkness, most of us are lucky to have the power of sight and take our eyes for granted. The eye is a very complex organ that gives us the ability to take in the wonders of our world in a way our other senses cannot give us. Check out these 6 interesting facts about the human eye.
Our eyes can see 10 million different colours
Many studies and experiments have suggested our eyes can see around 10 million different colours. All of the colours in the light spectrum are made up of combinations of red, green and blue, they are all visible to us. Most believe that colours are simply the properties of the light entering the eye, but it is also the way the brain decodes other objects around an object, background colours, lighting levels and surroundings all to make up a colour we see!
Our eyes perceive things upside down
The things we see is made up of reflected light from the objects we are looking at. However, the cornea at the front of the eye is curved meaning it bends this light as it enters the eye. When the lights reaches the retina at the back of the eye, the image is upside down! Our brain flips the image back round the right way allowing us to see the image perfectly.
An Austrian professor named Theodor Erismann conducted an experiment using some goggles worn by his assistant that made the assistant see things upside down – amazingly within a week his brain adapted to this and flipped the image the right way round again!
Our eyes can get sunburned!
Most of us think only our skin can get sunburned, in fact, we are all careful to protect ourselves from the suns harmful rays. The eye, however, can also get sunburned: Photokeratitis is sunburn of the eyes, it is painful can make your sight blurry, make your eyes fill with tears and sensitive to light. The effects can last for a long time after exposure so always wear the best sunglasses you can!
Everyone has a blind spot
Have you ever felt like you have a blind spot? A small area of our visual field of view actually corresponds to the optic disks location; where the optic nerve exists and its blood vessels enter, this leads to a blind spot. It’s still not clear by eye experts why we rarely notice this blind spot, most believe that the brain fills in the blind spots gaps or that each eye’s blind spot is in a different area, meaning both eyes together can remove both blind spots!
Red-eye in photos is your blood vessels
We’ve all tried to remove red-eye from an otherwise great photo of ourselves right? Did you know that the red-eye effect occurs when the flash from our camera is reflected back at the camera lens? The light that is reflected illuminates the blood vessels at the back of our eyes, producing the red colour in the photos.
Our eyes are filled with Jelly!
It’s true, 80% of each of our eyes is made from a jelly-like liquid called vitreous humour. This liquid is vital for the eye’s everyday functions and in keeping the eye healthy. Filling the space between the lens and the retina of our eyes, Vitreous Humour is around 99% water and 1% proteins, salts, sugars and collagen. Filling the eyes empty space means that the liquid keeps the eyes shape and protects the very fragile retina at the back of the eye.
