Why Do Onions Make You Cry? The Chemistry Is Fascinating

[00:00:00]Every time you chop an onion and start crying at your own kitchen counter, you are losing a chemical battle that the onion was specifically designed to win.

[00:00:07]When you slice into an onion, you rupture its cells and trigger a rapid chain reaction.

[00:00:12]An enzyme called alliinase is released and reacts with compounds in the onion to produce sulfenic acids.

[00:00:18]Those acids rearrange themselves into a volatile gas called syn-propanethial S-oxide.

[00:00:24]The gas floats upward, hits the moisture on your eyeballs, and converts into a mild form of sulfuric acid.

[00:00:30]Your tear ducts respond immediately to flush it out.

[00:00:33]The onion evolved this exact defense mechanism over millions of years to stop animals and insects from eating it.

[00:00:40]Every single tear is the onion succeeding at its only biological goal.

[00:00:44]Here is the fix almost nobody knows.

[00:00:47]Chill the onion in the fridge before cutting.

[00:00:50]Cold temperatures slow the enzyme reaction dramatically and cut the gas production down to almost nothing.

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