Why do tears come out while cutting onions, know the scientific reasons:

News India Live, Digital Desk: Kitchen Hack: Have you ever wondered why tears come out of our eyes as soon as we cut onions? This is not just our story, but it happens all over the world. Often we think that onion is spicy, that is why our eyes water, but there is an interesting scientific reason behind it, which is really fun to understand.

When we cut onion, its cells break. An enzyme called ‘allinase’ and sulfur compound ‘propanethial S-oxide’ are present inside these cells. As these cells break down, these two elements mix together and a chemical reaction occurs. As a result of this reaction, a gas is formed called ‘syn-propanethial S-oxide’.

This gas floats in the air and when it reaches our eyes, it causes irritation in the eyes. To protect our eyes from this gas, our lacrimal glands become active and produce tears. These tears, in a way, wash the eyes and expel this irritating gas. This is just like if dust or any foreign particle enters the eyes, tears come out.

Scientists have done research on this for a long time and now we have understood this entire process. So the next time you get tears in your eyes while cutting an onion, remember that it’s just a chemical reaction meant to protect your eyes from irritation. If you want to reduce tears, you can adopt some tips, like cutting the onion by soaking it in water or cutting it while sitting under a fan.