Human Eye Resolution: Testing Light Levels

[alex_boothby]

hi, I've just done an experinemt to try and show the resolution of the human eye in different light levels.

i did it by putting a 0.25mm apart slits in a tube then, behind it had an adjustbable light, then i moved the slit further back, and asked them to say if they could see the two slits. then i repeated it for different lux levels i.e 0.2, 0.4, 0.6

well anyway, i found out that as you turn the light levels up, it becomes easier to see that there is two slits, but when you get past 2.2lux it makes no difference.

i was wandering what is the calculation to work out the resolution of the eye.

the slite were 0.25mm apart and i went back 10 cm each time.

thank you

 

[Andrew Mason]

hi, I've just done an experinemt to try and show the resolution of the human eye in different light levels.

i did it by putting a 0.25mm apart slits in a tube then, behind it had an adjustbable light, then i moved the slit further back, and asked them to say if they could see the two slits. then i repeated it for different lux levels i.e 0.2, 0.4, 0.6

well anyway, i found out that as you turn the light levels up, it becomes easier to see that there is two slits, but when you get past 2.2lux it makes no difference.

i was wandering what is the calculation to work out the resolution of the eye.

the slite were 0.25mm apart and i went back 10 cm each time.

thank you

The resolution of the eye would be a measure of the minimum angle between two objects that the eye can distinguish. (Think of the eye projecting an image onto the retina. In order for the retina to distinguish two objects, there must be a minimum separation on the retina in order to send two different signals to the brain).

AM

 

[kyle8921]

Hello, thank you for sharing your experiment on testing the resolution of the human eye in different light levels. Your experiment is a great way to understand how the eye perceives images in different lighting conditions.

To calculate the resolution of the eye, we use a formula called the Minimum Resolvable Distance (MRD). MRD is the smallest distance between two objects that can be resolved by the eye. It is calculated by multiplying the distance between the objects by the tangent of the angle formed by the two objects with respect to the eye.

In your experiment, the distance between the two slits is 0.25mm and you moved the slit 10 cm each time, which means the distance between the two objects increased by 10 cm. Using the formula MRD = distance x tangent (angle), we can calculate the MRD for each light level by taking the tangent of the angle formed by the two slits at each light level.

For example, at 0.2 lux, the angle formed by the two slits would be larger compared to at 2.2 lux, where the angle would be smaller. This means that the MRD at 0.2 lux would be smaller than at 2.2 lux.

By repeating this calculation for each light level and plotting it on a graph, you can determine the resolution of the human eye in different light levels. This can also help us understand how the eye adapts to different lighting conditions and how it affects our vision.

Thank you for your experiment and I hope this helps in understanding the resolution of the human eye. Keep up the great work in exploring and understanding the world around us.