The Human Eye and the Colourful World — Class 10 Science PYQs

Previous-year board questions (2026) with marking-scheme solutions, grouped by topic and marks.

Try each question first, then press (or tap Show Solution) to reveal the answer. Press again for the next question.

Marks:

Human eye: structure and accommodation

1 Mark Questions
11 Mark · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
When you look at an object very close to your eyes, the :
  • (a)Ciliary muscles of your eye contract and the eye lens becomes thick.
  • (b)Ciliary muscles of your eye get relaxed and the eye lens becomes thick.
  • (c)Ciliary muscles of your eye contract and the eye lens becomes thin.
  • (d)Ciliary muscles of your eye get relaxed and the eye lens becomes thin.
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(A) / Ciliary muscles of your eye contract and the eye lens become thick (1 Mark)
21 Mark · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
The pair of eye parts responsible for admitting different amount of light in to the eyes is
  • (a)Iris and pupil
  • (b)Ciliary muscles and pupil
  • (c)Retina and Iris
  • (d)Ciliary muscles and cornea
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(A) / Iris and pupil (1 Mark)
31 Mark · May 2026open ↗
The part of eye which causes change in the focal length of eye lens to provide it exceptional accommodation power is :
  • (a)Aqueous humour
  • (b)Ciliary muscles
  • (c)Pupil
  • (d)Iris
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(B) Ciliary muscles (1 Mark)
2 Marks Questions
42 Marks · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
Attempt either (a) or (b) :
(a) How does the focal length of eye lens change as the distance of the object from the eyes is altered ? Explain.
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(a)
* If the distance of the object from the eye is increased, ciliary muscles relax, lens becomes thin and so the focal length increases (1 Mark)
* If the distance between the object from the eye is decreased, the ciliary muscles contract, lens becomes thick and so the focal length decreases. (1 Mark)
OR
(b) In myopic eye image is formed in front of the retina. A concave lens / diverging lens of suitable power will bring the image back on to the retina. (2 Marks)
52 Marks · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
(i) How does the change in curvature of the eye lens helps us in the process of seeing the nearby objects clearly ?
(ii) State the range of the power of accommodation of a normal human eye.
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(i) While looking at objects nearer to eye, the curvature of the eye lens increases. Consequently, the focal length of the eye lens decreases. (1 Mark)
(ii) From 25cm (near point) to infinity (far point) (1 Mark)

Defects of vision and correction

1 Mark Questions
61 Mark · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
Vision defect far-sightedness is found in the eye defects named as :
  • (a)Myopia and cataract
  • (b)Myopia and hypermetropia
  • (c)Presbyopia and hypermetropia
  • (d)Presbyopia and myopia
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(C)/ Presbyopia and hypermetropia.
71 Mark · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
The vision defect which arises due to gradual weakening of the ciliary muscles and diminishing flexibility of eye lens is :
  • (a)Myopia
  • (b)Hypermetropia
  • (c)Presbyopia
  • (d)Myopia and hypermetropia both
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(C) / Presbyopia (1 Mark)
81 Mark · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
To restore clear vision in persons whose size of the eye ball has reduced, he/she is suggested to use suitable
  • (a)Converging lens
  • (b)Diverging lens
  • (c)Bifocal lens
  • (d)Cylindrical lens
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(A) / converging lens (1 Mark)
2 Marks Questions
92 Marks · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
(b) Why is the concave lens used as a corrective lens for a myopic eye ?
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(a)
* If the distance of the object from the eye is increased, ciliary muscles relax, lens becomes thin and so the focal length increases (1 Mark)
* If the distance between the object from the eye is decreased, the ciliary muscles contract, lens becomes thick and so the focal length decreases. (1 Mark)
OR
(b) In myopic eye image is formed in front of the retina. A concave lens / diverging lens of suitable power will bring the image back on to the retina. (2 Marks)
3 Marks Questions
103 Marks · May 2026open ↗
(A) The elderly people, may have both near sightedness and far sightedness. Write the possible solutions, can be proposed for correction of their eye defect.
(B) How does the eye control the amount of light entering into it ?
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(A) (i) They either use two sets of spectacles one for correcting Near sightedness and other for correcting farsightedness (1 Mark)
(ii) Use bifocal spectacles / use progressive lenses. (1 Mark)
(B) The pupil regulates and controls the amount of light entering the eye. The size of pupil is regulated by Iris (a muscular diaphragm). (1 Mark)
113 Marks · May 2026open ↗
Two persons, A and B are using lenses of power $+1.5\ \text{D}$ and $-1.5\ \text{D}$ respectively in their spectacles. Write the names of eye defects from which A and B are suffering. Write two causes for each defect of vision.
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• A is suffering from Hypermetropia ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
• B is suffering from Myopia ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
Causes of Hypermetropia (A)
(i) Focal length of eye lens is too long ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
(ii) Eye ball has become too small ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
Causes of Myopia (B)
(i) Excessive curvature of eye lens ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
(ii) Elongation of eye ball ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark) (3 Marks)

Refraction through a prism and dispersion

1 Mark Questions
121 Mark · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
A thin beam of white light falls on a face of a glass prism and a spectrum is obtained on a screen. Which of the following options is the correct sequence of colours from top to bottom on the screen ?
  • (a)Red, Green, Yellow, Violet, Blue
  • (b)Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet
  • (c)Violet, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red
  • (d)Violet, Red, Green, Yellow, Blue
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(B) / Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet (1 Mark)
131 Mark · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
Angle of deviation in refraction of light through a glass prism is the :
  • (a)Angle between the normal at the face on the emerging side of the prism and the emergent ray.
  • (b)Angle between the normal at the face on the emerging side of the prism and the incident ray.
  • (c)Angle between the incident ray and the refracted ray.
  • (d)Angle between the directions of incident ray and emergent ray.
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(D)/Angle between the directions of incident ray and emergent ray. (1 Mark)
2 Marks Questions
142 Marks · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
Attempt either subpart (a) or (b) :
(a) Name the phenomenon due to which a prism splits the incident white light into a band of colours. State the reason of the phenomenon also.
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(a) • Dispersion of light (1 Mark)
• Different colours of light bend through different angle with respect to incident ray as they pass through prism. (1 Mark)
152 Marks · May 2026open ↗
(a) Name a phenomenon taking place in nature where light rays are dispersed. When, where and how does this phenomenon happen?
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(a) • Rainbow formation ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
• After the rain shower ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
• In the sky in a direction opposite to that of Sun ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
• Due to refraction, dispersion and internal reflection of sunlight through droplets of water suspended in air. ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark) (2 Marks)
3 Marks Questions
163 Marks · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
Explain the phenomenon of rainbow formation in the sky. Draw the labelled ray diagram in support of your explanation.
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Rainbow is caused by dispersion of sunlight by tiny water droplets, present in the atmosphere. The water droplets act like small prisms. They refract and disperse the incident sunlight, then reflect it internally, and finally refract it again when it comes out of the raindrop.

Atmospheric refraction

3 Marks Questions
173 Marks · May 2026open ↗
What is meant by atmospheric refraction of light ? Explain the following natural phenomenon by using the concept of atmospheric refraction :
(a) Twinkling of stars
(b) Flickering of objects seen through a turbulent stream of hot air
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$\bullet$ Refraction of light by the earth's atmosphere due to variation in
optical density of different layers of air is called as atmospheric
refraction. (1)
(a) The starlight, on entering the earth's atmosphere undergoes
refraction continuously in a medium of gradually increasing
refractive index and we see the apparent position of the star. Since
the physical conditions of atmosphere are not stationary, the
apparent position of the star fluctuates and gives twinkling effect. (1)
(b) The air just above the fire becomes hotter than the air further up.
The hotter air is lighter (less dens) than cooler air above it and has a
refractive index slightly less than that of cooler air. Since the
physical conditions of refracting medium are not stationary, the
apparent position of objects, as seen through hot air fluctuates. And
we see flickering objects. (1)

Scattering of light

2 Marks Questions
182 Marks · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
Attempt either (a) or (b) :
(a) What happens when light is scattered from (i) very fine particles and (ii) very large size particles of medium ? Justify your answer in each case.
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(a) (i) Mainly blue coloured light is scattered because very fine particles scatter shorter wavelength.
(1)
(ii) Scattered light may appear white because very large size particles scatter light of all wavelengths.
(1)
192 Marks · May 2026open ↗
What is meant by scattering of light ?
How do our observations differ when white light (sun light) is scattered from (i) very fine particles of the medium and (ii) very large particles of the medium ?
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The phenomenon in which a part of light incident on a particle is redirected in different directions is called scattering of light. (1 Mark)
(i) Shorter wavelength (blue light) is scattered. ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
(ii) White light is scattered. ($\frac{1}{2}$ Mark)
3 Marks Questions
203 Marks · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
(a) What is Tyndall effect ?
(b) What happens when sunlight is scattered from the particles of very large size ?
(c) ‘Danger’ signals are always red in colour. Why ?
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Red colour is least scattered by fog or smoke, so it can be seen in the same colour from a large distance. (1 Mark)
213 Marks · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
What is scattering of light ? How is scattering of light different from reflection of light? Explain.
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* The phenomenon of spreading light in different directions on interaction with particles of the medium. (1 Mark)
* Light bounces back in a fixed direction after reflection while in scattering of light, it spreads in different directions. /Reflection of light is independent of the size of reflecting particles whereas the colour of the scattered light depends upon the size of scattering particles (2 Marks)
223 Marks · March 2026 · Standardopen ↗
(a) Explain the Tyndall effect with the help of one suitable example.
(b) What happens when a white light gets scattered from (i) very fine particles (ii) larger size particles ?
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(a) • When a beam of light strikes fine particles like smoke, tiny water droplets, suspended particles of dust and molecules of air, the path of beam becomes visible. This phenomenon of scattering of light by colloidal particles is called Tyndall effect. (1 Mark)
• Examples: -
➤ When sunlight passes through a canopy of a dense forest tiny water droplets in the mist scatter light. (1 Mark)
➤ When a fine beam of sunlight enters a smoke-filled room through a small hole, scattering of light makes the particles visible.
(Any one, any other suitable example)
(b) (i) Blue light / light of shorter wavelength is visible. (½ Mark)
(ii) Red light/ Light of longer wavelength is visible. (½ Mark)
233 Marks · May 2026open ↗
(a) What is meant by Tyndall effect ?
(b) How is scattering of light different from reflection of light ?
(c) What will happen if white light (sunlight) is scattered from (i) very small particles of medium, and (ii) very large particles of medium ?
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(a) Tyndall Effect :- The phenomenon of scattering of light by the colloidal particles which makes the path of light visible. This is called Tyndall effect. (1)
(b) Scattering of light depends on size of particles of colloid and wave length of colour of light while reflection of light is independent of both of them. (1)
(c) (i) Scatter the Short wavelength colours of sunlight (½)
(ii) White light scattered (½)