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Asked by charlie96 to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 16 Jun 2011.
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Kimberley Bryon answered on 15 Jun 2011:
It is to keep your eyes moist, to protect them by removing dirt and preventing germs from growing there.
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Julia Griffen answered on 15 Jun 2011:
Hey Charlie… Kimberly has it… its a automatic cleaning process. we blink between 4-12 times a minute… hard work hey!
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Amy MacQueen answered on 15 Jun 2011:
Hi Charlie! Good question – no one really knows all the details yet!
Blinking is essential to keeping our eyes healthy!! Every time you blink you are bathing your eye in some nice warm tears that remain on the surface as a tear film to prevent injury and also to regulate sensory input from the eye to the brain. They also provide nutrition, comfort and help keep our vision clear by washing dust and things away!
What causes us to blink is not completely understood yet – scientists are trying to work it out so that they can help people with very dry eyes to blink more! It might be that there is a change in temperature as the tear evaporates which then triggers us to blink again.
Everybody blinks at different rates and there are also differences between species – rabbits hardly blink at all…they’d totally beat you in a staring contest!! 🙂
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Sara Imari Walker answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Hi Charlie!! These awesome ladies of science have mostly covered it =) One more thing to add though – I think blinking is also great as a means to protect our eyes. If we couldn’t blink it be a lot more painful to get poked in the eye! Our eye-lashes can serve as dust-catchers too, especially convenient when our blinking mechanism operates automatically!
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Drew Rae answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Just quickly to add – blinking is another one of those weird things like breathing where you can do it without thinking about it, but also focus your mind on it and have some control. It’s pretty cool.
Comments
charlie96 commented on :
Thankyou 🙂
thomasluke commented on :
LOL charlotte :^)
laurennnnh commented on :
LOL tom. 🙂