• Question: Can you cry under water?

    Asked by CuCUMber10BillionANd1 to Yinka, Stéphane, Matt, Juhi, Gemma, David on 8 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: David Howard

      David Howard answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      Yes you can cry underwater and the tears will become quickly diluted.

    • Photo: Stéphane Berneau

      Stéphane Berneau answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      I don’t think that will be easy because when you cry your breathing intensity changes.
      But yes, you can produce tears in the water.

    • Photo: Gemma Chandratillake

      Gemma Chandratillake answered on 9 Mar 2018:

      I don’t think there is a technical reason why you couldn’t but I think it would be difficult to actually do this without wearing a mask and snorkel…crying while holding breath, with eyes open underwater? I think you’d likely have a reflex reaction which would stop the crying…more to do with holding breath than the presence of water though I reckon…

    • Photo: Matt Bawn

      Matt Bawn answered on 13 Mar 2018:

      The internet says yes, although most people don’t seem to have tried it. This seems to be based on the assumption that there is no reason bmechanically why you shouldn’t be able to produce tears. If you started sobbing underwater however, you’d probably drown. But What type of crying do you mean? crying to clean the eyes for example? Whales and dolphins have a sort of greasy tear gland.

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