I read recently some tips on "How to peel onions without crying."  The list of suggestions included the claim that if you start at the root of the onion and peel up, you'll never shed a tear.  It included some downright humorous suggestions, like the claim that peeling them with a bag over your head, or wearing scuba diving gear, or peeling them with a chunk of raw potato in your mouth, prevents tears.

Chemists have identified a number of reactive and volatile sulphur compounds that cause tears when slicing an onion.  Such substances are called lacrimators.

If you want to be more scientific about avoiding tears when you slice onions then there are some basic scientific principles you can apply.  All of them depend on keeping those volatile components from getting into the air, and then into your eyes.

If you put the onions in a freezer just before cutting them, it decreases the vapour pressure of the volatile components, and hence fewer of the tear causing molecules get into the air.  Alternatively, cutting onions under water allows the volatile components to dissolve in the water, so again they are removed and are unable to reach your eyes.

Since the tear-causing-molecules float through the air, you can always decrease their concentration near your work area by using a fan to blow most of the offending vapours away.

So next time you peel onions apply some simple science, and avoid those tears.

MOVING BEYOND MATTER
by  Ron Hughes

Tears are an effective way for the eyes to rid themselves of chemical irritants, but our most significant tears are a reflection of feelings deep within side of us.

Tears are most often associated with grief or sadness, but they may be associated with other intense emotions, particularly joy, pathos, rage and the like.  While some of us enjoy intense feelings to a degree, sustained emotional intensity of a level which produces tears quickly becomes exhausting.  In fact, most of us try to avoid tears.

Just as tears cleanse the eyes and bring physical relief, they can also cleanse the soul and bring emotional relief.  The whole concept of "needing a good cry" is a relatively common one.  The emotional release that comes with weeping can allow us to enter a state of calm which is otherwise difficult to attain.

In literature, tears speak of sorrow more than other emotional states.  Consequently, the drying of tears or wiping of tears refers to the comfort which one experiences after a difficult situation which has evoked weeping.  Such comfort is particularly valued when offered by one who has suffered as we have.

Some reject the idea of a capital "G" God, because they see Him as totally impassive and uncaring about the plight of creatures on earth.  This is quite unnecessary.  Without delving into the theological niceties regarding the nature and character of God, we know that He reveal Himself to be interested in human affairs, touched  and attentive to our cry.  While human tears may be produced as a result of a variety of circumstances, God seems to be particularly concerned about those which come as a result of profound personal pain and sorrow.  One of the most famous quotes about tears speaks to this:  "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying."