INDEX

SERIAL
NO.
CONTENTS
1 Certificate
2 Acknowledgment
3 Introduction to ‘blind spot’
4 What are rods and cones?
5 Aim
6 Materials
7 Procedure
8 Results
9 Conclusion
10 Bibliography
Now you see it, now you don’t

What is blindspot?
blind spot, a small portion of each eye's visual field that
corresponds to the position of the optic disk (also known
as the optic nerve head) within the retina. There are no
photoreceptors (i.e., rods or cones) in the optic disk;
therefore, there is no image detection in this area.
The blind spot of the right eye is located to the right of
the center of vision and vice versa in the left eye. With
both eyes open, the blind spots are not perceived
because the visual fields of the two eyes overlap. Indeed,
even with one eye closed, the blind spot can be difficult
to detect subjectively because of the ability of
the brain to “fill in” or ignore the missing portion of the
image.

RODS
rod, one of two types of photoreceptive cells in the retina of
the eye in vertebrate animals. Rod cells function as specialized
neurons that convert visual stimuli in the form of photons
(particles of light) into chemical and electrical stimuli that can
be processed by the central nervous system. Rod cells are
stimulated by light over a wide range of intensities and are
responsible for perceiving the size, shape, and brightness of
visual images. They do not perceive color and fine detail, tasks
performed by the other major type of light-sensitive cell,
the cone. Rod cells are much more sensitive to light than cones
and are also much more numerous. The human eye contains
about 130 million rods and about 7 million cones.
CONES
cone, a light-sensitive cell (photoreceptor) with a
conical projection in the retina of the vertebrate eye,
associated with color vision and perception of fine detail.
Shorter and far fewer than the eye’s rods (the other type of
retinal light-sensitive cell), cones are less sensitive to low
illumination levels and are mediators of photopic rather than
scotopic (Greek Skotos, “dark”) vision. Cones are mostly
concentrated within the central retina (macula), which contains
the fovea (depression in the retina), where no rods are present.
In contrast, the outer edges of the retina contain few cones and
many rods. Chemical changes that occur when light strikes the
cones are ultimately relayed as impulses to optic-nerve fibers
that enter the brain.
Experiment
AIM:  to determine if age affects the size of a
person's blind spot. I predicted that as age increased,
the size of a person's blind spot would increase.

MATERIALS

 A few 3 × 5 cards or other stiff paper

 Black marking pen (felt tip works best)
 Scale and logbook
Assembly
Mark a dot and a cross on a card as shown.

Procedure
The way I determined the blind spot size was I held a ruler on
the subject's nose, which had an index card with a cross on the
right and a dot on the left, at the end of the ruler.
Hold the card at eye level about an arm’s length away. Make
sure that the cross is on the right.
Close your right eye and look directly at the cross with your left
eye. Notice that you can also see the dot.
Focus on the cross, but be aware of the dot as you slowly bring
the card toward your face. The dot will disappear and reappear
as you bring the card toward your face. Try moving the card
closer and farther to pinpoint exactly where this happens.
Now close your left eye and look directly at the dot with your
right eye. This time the cross will disappear and reappear as
you bring the card slowly toward your face.

What’s Going On?

The optic nerve—a bundle of nerve fibers that carries messages
from your eye to your brain—passes through one spot on the
light-sensitive lining, or retina, of your eye. In this spot, your
eye’s retina has no light receptors. When you hold the card so
the light from the dot falls on this spot, you cannot see the dot.
The fovea is an area of the retina that is densely packed with
light receptors, giving you the sharpest vision.
The distance is recorded. The difference between the two
numbers determines their blind spot size. Each person
was tested 3 times.

Results
The results of my testing showed that the 25-40 age
group had the largest average blind spot of 1.201mm,
while the oldest age group, 50 and over, had the smallest
average blind spot of 0.999mm. The 5-15 age group had
an average blind spot of 1.092 mm.

Conclusions
I predicted that the size of a person's blind spot
would increase with age. However, my experiment
did not prove my hypothesis to be true. The oldest
age group had the smallest average blind spot size.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Wikipedia
 Reference articles
 https://www.exploratorium.edu/
 Class 12 NCERT Textbook