Deep in your skin, sweat glands are curled up like tiny balls of string. Dark cells are one of the two kinds of cells that line them.
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An eccrine sweat gland is a long, thin tube. Its bottom part is curled up into a ball deep in your skin. Its top part runs up to a tiny hole on your skin called a pore.
The curled-up part is lined with two kinds of cells: clear cells and dark cells.
Dark cells got their name because they look darker under a microscope. They sit closest to the middle of the tube.
You have a few million sweat glands, on almost every part of your skin!
When you get hot, the clear cells make most of the salty, watery sweat.
Dark cells add mucus, a slippery stuff, to the sweat. Scientists are still learning exactly how this helps.
The sweat flows up the tube to your skin. When it dries, it takes heat away with it and cools you down.
After running around, touch your forehead. Feel the damp sweat? Rest for a minute and notice how you cool down as it dries.
By SciShow Kids. A fun video for kids.
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