Question

The eyes of many older people have lost the ability to accommodate, and so an older person’s near point may be more than 25 cm from the eye. Does the older person’s eye have a larger or smaller refractive power than a normal eye, when focused on an object at the near point? Explain.

Answer 1

Answer:

Smaller refractive power

Explanation:

The refractive power of an eye is the extent to which it can converge or diverge the light rays.

Near point is the the closest point for an eye such that when an object is placed at that point the image it forms is sharp and clearly visible to the eye.

A the person ages, the ciliary muscles of the eyes weakens and as a result the lens contracts and the formation of the image takes place behind the retina instead of forming at the retina.

Thus the near point also increases and the refractive power becomes smaller.