Biology Matters G.C.E.

'O' Level (2nd Edition): Textbook Answers Chapter 14

Chapter 14 The Human Eye

Investigation 14.1 (page 273)

1. Your drawing should look like the mirror image of Figure 14.2.
2. The pupil suddenly constricts and then enlarges slightly. In darkness, the pupil is wide
open. Sudden exposure to bright light causes the pupil to constrict. This prevents
excessive light from entering the eye.
3. Stimulus – sudden exposure to bright light
Effector – circular iris muscles

Test Yourself 14.1 (page 278)

1. (a) Rods
(b) Colour vision depends upon cones and these are only activated by high light
intensity, i.e. during the daytime. Cones are not, therefore, useful to animals
that are active at night.

2. At night, the pupil is dilated to its circular maximum to allow the most light to enter the
eye. In the daytime, the pupil contracts to a vertical slit to shut out damaging light. The
slit pupil can shut out all light except a narrow band. Its vertical orientation works well
with eyelids. As an animal squints, partially closing its lids at right angles to the vertical
slit pupil, it further reduces the amount of light entering its eye.

3. Cats’ eyes appear to shine because the light from the headlights passes through the
retina to the tapetum and is then reflected back out of the eyes. The tapetum helps a cat
see better in the dark because the available light will pass through the retina to the
tapetum and then be reflected back to the retina, providing two opportunities for light to
hit the rods in the retina of the cat's eyes.

4. The radial muscles in the iris in your eyes contract, the circular muscles relax, and your
pupils dilate, increasing the amount of light entering your eyes. The receptor is the retina
(rods) and the effectors are the circular iris muscles.

Test Yourself 14.2 (page 281)

In bright light, the visual purple in the rods is bleached. When the person enters the room, it
takes some time for visual purple to be produced. Once there is sufficient visual purple in the
rods, the later is sensitive to dim light. Only the, will the person be able to see in dim light.

Get It Right (page 283)

(a) False
The sclera protects the eyeball from mechanical damage.
(b) True
(c) False
Cones enable us to see colours in bright light.
(d) False
To focus on a near object, the ciliary muscles contract, the suspensory ligaments
slacken and the lens becomes thicker and more convex.

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Biology Matters G.C.E. 'O' Level (2nd Edition): Textbook Answers Chapter 14

Let’s Review (page 283)

Section A: Multiple-Choice Questions

1. C
2. B
3. B

Section B: Structured Questions

(a) Refer to Figure 14.10.

(b) (i) Iris
(ii) Ciliary muscles
(iii) Choroid
Refer to Figure 14.3 for labelling.

Section C: Free-Response Questions

1. (a) Focusing or accommodation is the adjustment of the lens of the eye so that
clear images of objects at different distances are formed on the retina.
(b) Focusing takes place in your eyes so that you can see both the printed page
(near object) and aeroplane (distant object). Refer to “Focusing on a distant
object’ and “Focusing on a near object’ in Section 14.2 for the sequence of
events that enables you to see a near object and a distant object
respectively.

2. Refer to ‘What is the pupil reflex?’ in Section 14.1.

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