WHAT? WHY? HOW?
Every one of us might have experienced the cold winter night and the running nose due to cold. Have you ever thought why does it happen?
1. Running Noses in Cold Winters?
Every one of us might have experienced the cold winter night and the running nose due to cold. Have you ever thought why does it happen? In winters, the air around us is cold, but the lungs require a typical warm air for its functioning. So there will be an increased blood flow to the nose, which keeps the air intake warm. But it has a side effect, i.e., the production of a high amount of snot from the mucus secreted by the glands in the nose. This is why the nose oftenly runs in the winters.
2. Platelets, a Natural Healer?
When a skin gets cut, what happens in the first place is the rushing of platelets present in the blood along with other blood content. When the blood is exposed to air, the platelets come into action by combining with the proteins called fibrin and forming a mesh kind of structure on top of the wound. This mesh kind of structure is called the ‘Scab’. Thus the bleeding stops due to the platelets, which acts a natural way of healing wounds.
3. The Rusting of Apple?
Most of us love apples. But have you thought why does a cut apple turns brown in colour? It is just because when exposed to air, due to the oxidation process which goes on inside the apple as it comes in contact with the air containing oxygen. This brown colour is actually the rust. Apples are a rich source of iron, which when exposed to air reacts with oxygen forming iron oxides. Apples skin protects it from this process.
4. Tears and Onions?
We usually get tears while cutting onions. Why does it happen after all? Onions contain amino acid- sulfoxides, which converts into sulfenic acids in the onion cells. On cutting the onion, the enzymes start to mix with the sulfenic acid to form propanethiol S-oxide gas, which is a volatile gas, that reaches our eyes. This volatile gas then reacts with the water of the eyes, forming mild sulphuric acid; causing a burning sensation in our eyes. This burning sensation stimulates the tear glands to secrete tears in order to dilute and remove the irritant.