• Question: If tears are a barrier to infection, why do we only produce them when feel strong emotions?

    Asked by to Bethany, Hannah, Keith, Peter, Ramya on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Peter Elliott

      Peter Elliott answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Tears are just the excess production of a fluid that naturally coats your eye. If you look at your eye in a mirror you will probably see that it glistens slightly. This is because there is a thin layer of liquid on your eye. This liquid is the same as what your tears are made of.

      The liquid keeps your eye moist to prevent irritation and acts as a barrier by washing away, and killing, any unwanted bacteria as well as other harmful things such as chemicals.

    • Photo: Hannah Tanner

      Hannah Tanner answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      As Peter said, a small amount of tears is there all the time protecting you from infection in your eyes.

      We don’t only cry due to emotion. We can get watery eyes when irritants like dust or raw onion fumes get into our eyes. Eye eyes produce more tears to help wash out the things that could damage your eye.

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