Why do onions make you cry?

Question

Is there anything you can do to reduce the way they affect the eyes?
Thanks

Answer 1

Gas from the onion mixes with water from your eyes to create a mild acid. The best thing I've found are these onion goggles. If you are dealing with many onions try these. This is where I bought them.

broadwaypanhandler.com

Answer 2

When you slice through an onion, you break open a number of onion cells. Some of these cells have enzymes inside of them, and when they are sliced open, the enzymes escape. The enzymes then decompose some of the other substances that have escaped from sliced cells. Some of these substances, amino acid sulfoxides, form sulfenic acids, which then quickly rearrange themselves into a volatile gas.

The gas reaches your eyes and reacts with the water that keeps them moist. This changes the chemical's form again, producing, among other things, a mild sulfuric acid, which irritates the eyes. The nerve endings in your eyes are very sensitive and so they pick up on this irritation (this is why our eyes sting when we slice onions).
Try peeling them under water.

Answer 3

It's a chemical reaction. Onions don't bother me, so I've never tried this, but I've read that peeling onions underwater works pretty well. Now let me 'splain. You don't have to get underwater yourself, just fill the dishpan or sink, and submerge your hands while you peel. Of course, you cannot chop onions underwater.

But the candle idea is easier, so try that first.

Answer 4

ite the sulfur in the onions ,try lighting a candle and put it near to you while you are cutting the onion,it seems to help.

Answer 5

Take a wooden match. Don't light it. Stick the wood end in your mouth and keep it there while you cut onions.

I think my mom told me that, it worked for me.