• Question: How when you get a stinging nettle sting and you rub it with a dock leaf it gets rid of the sting??

    Asked by anon-175412 to Ella, hayleypincott, Thomas on 22 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Ella Mercer

      Ella Mercer answered on 22 Jun 2018:

      So when you rub a dock leaf on a nettle sting the action of rubbing it releases sap from the leaf which has a cooling and soothing effect. A bit like when you burn yourself and you run it under some water -it takes out the heat and cools the area down making the nerves in your skin transmit less pain signals. I remember playing volleyball with my cousins a few years ago and one of them dived for the ball and fell in a nettle bush – we covered her in dock leaves! :L

    • Photo: Thomas Perriment

      Thomas Perriment answered on 22 Jun 2018:

      Great answer, Ella!

    • Photo: Hayley Pincott

      Hayley Pincott answered on 24 Jun 2018:

      I’m glad I read Ella’s answer because I didn’t really know and would have guessed that it released a soothing chemical.

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