How come when we get salt water in our eyes, it hurts, but when we cry we don't feel anything?

Question

tears and salt(ocean) water are both salty. i know this is a stupid question but im curious.

Answer 1

Omg. You just asked this question to my mom yesterday. I thought of it!

Answer 2

haha  you mean the tear and salt water are the same thing?

Answer 3

The salt concentration is much less in our tears than in sea water, etc.  If the solution had the same or similar concentration as our tear, it wouldn't hurt.

Answer 4

Tears are made of a lot more than just salt and water. So is Ocean water. They are composed of completely different things, and the ocean water has more than just a high concentration of salt that would make your eye hurt. It has a lot of minerals in it as well that would burn. Your eyes have many layers to the tiears including lipids that are oily to keep them from evaporating and they alwo act as a lubricant. When this is washed away by something else, your eyes will burn too.  It is not a stupid question, it is fairly common to wonder about this. Have a cool day!

Answer 5

ha ha this is an interesting question, I've never thought about it though.

I'd say its just cause there's a lot let salt in our tears, as with the ocean, there's tons. even if you taste it, you can taste WAY more salt in the ocean :)