Why does sea water hurt our eyes, but tears don’t?
In: Biology
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If the salt concentration in the water is higher than in your eyes, water will get sucked out(to even out the salt concentration).
Your eyes dehydrate, which stings.
That is the same reason why you die of thirst faster when you drink seawater.
Instead of getting water in your body. The salty water will suck out(osmosis) more water on the way through your body. So you are losing water
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Tears sting my eyes what are you talking about?
Seawater shouldnt hurt your eyes by itself. Sand and other particulate stirred up in the water WILL hurt your eyes, but seawater by itself will generally be close enough to saline solution that it shouldnt cause problems for most people.
Source: certified scuba diver; during training they show us that if you lose your mask, you can open your eyes under water as long as you are careful not to stir up the sand/dirt. I’ve done this in various locations in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and had no trouble.
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