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Junior Member
Registered: 11-18-07 | I've heard that chewing gum while chopping onions will stop you from crying. |
Senior Member
Registered: 11-12-07 | That has been being discussed at the Oogie Boogie topic. |
Senior Member
Registered: 03-01-07 | Well then it should be moved to this board as there's nothing "oogie boogie" about this question. The reason why onions make people cry (and the methods of preventing it) are perfectly scientific and can be tested. To answer the OP's question though, please read below at why an onion makes you cry and you will see how chewing gum doesn't really do anything to stop the effect. "When you cut an onion, you break cells, releasing their contents. Amino acid sulfoxides form sulfenic acids. Enzymes that were kept separate now are free to mix with the sulfenic acids to produce propanethiol S-oxide, a volatile sulfur compound that wafts upward toward your eyes. This gas reacts with the water in your tears to form sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid burns, stimulating your eyes to release more tears to wash the irritant away. " The best ways to avoid this effect are: "Cooking the onion inactivates the enzyme, so while the smell of cooked onions may be strong, it doesn't burn your eyes. Aside from wearing safety googles or running a fan, you can keep from crying by refrigerating your onion before cutting it (slows reactions and changes the chemistry inside the onion) or by cutting the onion under water." Source: http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryfaqs/f/onionscry.htm |
Senior Member
Registered: 11-12-07 | quote: "Cooking the onion inactivates the enzyme, so while the smell of cooked onions may be strong, it doesn't burn your eyes. Aside from wearing safety googles or running a fan, you can keep from crying by refrigerating your onion before cutting it (slows reactions and changes the chemistry inside the onion) or by cutting the onion under water."
As for putting an onion into water, it is the variant I proposed on the Oogie Boogie. Frozen onion? Interesting. But isn't a gas mask the simpliest way? Once you buy it, you will never have a problem like crying from a chopped onion. Unfortunately, even it does not help if you eat an onion, not chop it. |
Senior Member
Registered: 10-26-07 | quote: But isn't a gas mask the simpliest way?
Let me hurry up and get my; oh wait a minute, I haven't had a gas mask since I got out of the Marines. I've heard most these methods work. I have tried cutting an onion under running water with success, but I prefer doing it under the running exhaust fan for the stove. |
Senior Member
Registered: 11-12-07 | quote: Originally posted by reillyjb:
Let me hurry up and get my; oh wait a minute, I haven't had a gas mask since I got out of the Marines.
I supossed a gas mask in the U.S. will not be much more expensive than that in Ukraine (from UAH5 to UAH10 = $1 to $2). |
Senior Member
Registered: 01-21-07 | The method recommended by the experts at the Food Network is to put the onions in the freezer for ten to twenty minutes before cutting, peeling them, etc. It will prevent the tears without a bunch of nonsense. |
Junior Member
Registered: 11-20-07 | Yes, chewing gum stops you from crying while cutting an onion. I only know this because, I have tried in my own house in my own kitchen. You have to get the trident gum. The mint kind. |
Senior Member
Registered: 03-01-07 | quote: You have to get the trident gum. The mint kind.
Exactly, because the special properties of the trident mint gum neutralize sulfuric acid.  Seriously though...there's no chance of gum being chewed in your mouth doing anything to sulfuric compounds on your hands or the air above the onion. It's when this compound contacts your eyes that it creates sulfuric acid. If you're a firm believer that this method works, can you please attempt to explain how gum impacts the process? More specifically, can you inform us on what properties of Trident, whatever mint kind your talking about, assist in the gum's impact on this process. Through your explanation I would hope to understand why my Bazooka gum wouldn't work just as well. |
Senior Member
Registered: 10-26-07 | quote: Originally posted by yKpauHeu,:
I supossed a gas mask in the U.S. will not be much more expensive than that in Ukraine (from UAH5 to UAH10 = $1 to $2).
What your talking about would be a Respirator, and a cheap one like that is for particles and is no where near being qualified as a gas mask. Not all respirators are gas masks. wikipedia links RespiratorGas_mask |
Senior Member
Registered: 11-12-07 | quote: Originally posted by reillyjb: What your talking about would be a Respirator, and a cheap one like that is for particles and is no where near being qualified as a gas mask. Not all respirators are gas masks. wikipedia links RespiratorGas_mask
You're telling me what a gas mask is!! I know what it is, and besides everyone knows. A gas mask covers all of your head. If you compare the type of a gas mask I mean, and some of the shown in the article ones, it will turn out that those masks are mere respirators. Only that Finnish civilian gas mask is the most close to what I mean. |
Senior Member
Registered: 10-26-07 | You can buy civilian gas masks, but for a few buck all you will get is a respirator that doesn't qualify as a gas mask.
Its good for people to know what those cheap respirators are made. You don't want anyone using those cheap respirators when they really need something more. |
Senior Member
Registered: 11-12-07 | You said "a few"? So, a respirator in your country is more expensive than a gas mask over here; in Melitopol, you can get a gas mask for $1 in your currency (or an extra-class gas mask for $2) and a respirator for $0.40. |
Senior Member
Registered: 10-26-07 | Depending on the quality respirators are $1 or more. While they will stop really fine particles of a lot of polutants, paint, and many other things they will do nothing for a true gas. |
Senior Member
Registered: 11-12-07 | I see. I meant a gas mask that would just stop a true gas... There are also better ones that make you able to speak, clean glasses on the inside, eat and drink without taking the mask off. You can buy an OZK (ОЗК) - Obshchevoyskovoy Zashchitnyi Komplekt (Общевойсковой защитный комплект) - Common Military Protecting Outfit - it will stop gases being quite aggressive and damaging skin. I don't know how much it costs; but an OZK is not necessary, if you just would like not cry during chopping an onion.  As for a respirator, I am not sure if it stops crying. |
Junior Member
Registered: 11-28-07 | My dad told told me to light a candle slightly above where your cutting the onions inbetween your eyes and the onions. the flame burns the sulfuric acid up before it gets to your eyes. |
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