Tears are salty, all of us have tasted them once in our lives, or cried hard to taste them. Tears have trickled down our cheeks to our lips. Either we have laughed our hearts out or sobbed.
This phenomenon is possible in either of the two only.Here, we attempt to answer a commonly wondered-about fact – “why do tears taste salty?”
Tears of Joy!
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| South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na wipes away tears as she comes off the ice after performing in the women’s free skating figure skating event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics February 25, 2010.
Many-a-times we are too happy to cry. Our tears roll out of happiness. This is when we experience true happiness and revel in the joy of crying. It is a feeling of pride and being overwhelmed by the accomplishment. *Proud*
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Tears of Sorrow!
After every sad day comes a glad day. We must not let our hearts sink at sorrows of life. But, despite staying keeping our mettle, we break down. It is when these long tears flood out from our eyes.
When there’s nothing sad or happy…
Onions will do the talking to make you cry. Not cried since long? Want to wash your eyes? Simply chop an onion without washing it. I guarantee, there will be tears swamping your face.
Our body has this much salt in it at present.
This fact states that at any time, there is about 1 cup of salt in an adult human body. Also, all our body secretions have salt in them, from sweat to urine to saliva to tears.
Tears are a lubricant for our eyes.
They are the ones, without which our eyes would become extremely dry, and we may lose our eyesight. Tears are salty, and this has physiological, evolutionary and immunological reasons. There are three types of tears- basal, reflex and psychic.
These are the basal tears that are secreted to nourish and moisten the eye.
Reflex tears…
These are produced as a reflex action in response to irritation in the eyes. They come out naturally, without emotional indulgence. Many-a-times, they come in inapt situations, and there will be people running to wipe them off.
Psychic tears.
These are the tears that emerge out of feelings of sorrow, when we cry. Sobbing gives rise to these tears, which run out due to emotions such as suffering, anger or mourning or due to physical pain.
All our body secretions…
Sweat, tears, urine, saliva have salt in them. Salts are present inside cells and pull water in through osmosis.
Despite having salt, tears and other secretions don’t sting because they have a regulated amount of salt in them, unlike sea water which has about 3% salt.
Despite having salt, tears and other secretions don’t sting because they have a regulated amount of salt in them, unlike sea water which has about 3% salt.
Finally, we have found the answer.
Tears are salty because of the presence of salts of sodium and potassium in them. The taste of these salts is salty. But there is a higher content of water in tears. Coming over to the biological composition, tears contain organic and inorganic chemicals such as lipids, lysozyme, mucin, lactoferrin and many more enzymes.
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