8th Grade Cow Eye Dissection
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8th Grade Cow Eye Dissection |
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Langston Smith and Ryan Brill
8W Science
Vitreous adj. 1 a) of, having the nature of or like glass; glassy b) derived from or made of glass 2 of the vitreous humor
The Vitreous humor is part of the eye. The Vitreous humor is a clear, jelly like substance in the center of the eyeball. It supports the eyeball, and keeps it from collapsing in on itself.
The Vitreous humor's purpose is to support the eye, and give it it's shape. It is located between the lens and the retina. It's material changes over time. When a person is young, their Vitreous humor is more like transparent jelly. As they grow older, it starts to liquefy and break away from the retina. Sometimes the vitreous humor liquefies in some places, but others stay hard, and are attached to the retina. As the rest of the Vitreous humor pulls away from the retina, the hard parts stay attached, causing a retinal detachment. When this happens to a person, he/she can go partially blind. A person knows when his or her retina is detaching because they see a flash of light, and then immediately after that, they see a bunch of floaters.
Floaters are pieces of arteries or organs that have died, broken off from the organ/artery, and somehow found there way into the Vitreous humor. Floaters look like transparent blobs or strings, and one often sees them after looking at a bright light. Floaters rarely enter the center of your field of vision, unless you keep your eyes still. The reason for this is that when you move your eyes, it creates a current in your Vitreous humor, which makes the floaters move. If you keep your eyes still, then the floaters can settle in your fovea, which is where you see things the best.
Your Vitreous humor is made of many interesting components. It is made from water (99% of it is water), a bunch of collagen fibrils, molecules of hyaluronic acid, peripheral cells called hyalocytes, sugar, and ascorbic acid. If you ever want to make Vitreous humor, do not eat it, because there are drugs inside, specifically morphine and heroin.
In conclusion, the Vitreous humor supports your eye. It is essential, because without it, your eyeball would not be round, it would be a blob. The floaters that you see after looking at a bright light are just dead parts of arteries or organs in your Vitreous humor. Vitreous humor is mostly made of water, but there are other things added. Remember, don't eat your Vitreous humor!
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