What part of the eye is responsible for bending light rays onto the retina?

The lens is the part of the eye that is primarily responsible for bending light rays onto the retina. When light enters the eye, it passes through the cornea first, which provides some degree of bending or refraction. However, the lens fine-tunes this focus. The lens can change its shape through a process called accommodation, allowing the eye to focus on objects at varying distances. This ability to adjust is crucial for clear vision, as it ensures that light rays converge precisely on the retina, where photoreceptor cells convert the light into neural signals for the brain to process.

Other parts of the eye serve different functions; for instance, the cornea provides the initial refraction but does not have the same flexible capability as the lens. The vitreous humor is the gel-like substance filling the eye, while the iris controls the amount of light entering the eye but does not play a direct role in focusing light on the retina.