• Question: why do u cry when dirt goes in your eyes

    Asked by farrell to Gemma on 14 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Gemma Sharp

      Gemma Sharp answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Good question 🙂

      When anything gets in your body that’s not really supposed to be there, the body will usually try to get it out. When you get dirt in your eyes, your eyes start to water to flush the dirt out and help protect your eyes. If your eyes are watering just a bit then the tears can just drain off into the tear ducts in the corners of your eyes, but if they water a lot the tear ducts can’t cope with all the fluid, so tears run down your face.

      It’s one of the ways the body helps keep germs and other nasties out… but it also provides a handy excuse when you’re crying at a film and you don’t want your friends to know 😉

Comments

  • Photo: farrell

    farrell commented on :

    so its really like a tap be honest when u run water and then unplug it then it goes down the plug hole ????

  • Photo: Gemma

    Gemma commented on :

    Good analogy. I guess the tears are kind of like water coming from a tap, the eye socket is kind of like a really small sink, and the tear duct is kind of like the plug hole.

    So if you imagine putting a tap on so that water came out really fast into a small sink, the sink would probably start to fill up and might eventually overflow, because the plug hole is too full of water so it doesn’t drain quickly enough.

    When the sink overflows, that’s similar to what happens when tears overflow from your eyes and roll down your face…

  • Photo: farrell

    farrell commented on :

    yes thankyou for answering my question 🙂