# A turbinate question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-turbinate-question/447714>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [May 2, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-turbinate-question/447714 "2008-05-02T04:01:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-turbinate-question/447714/1 "2008-05-02T04:01:44Z")

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In the staff report [How do the mechanics of smell work?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msmells.html) Fierra did a great job explaining how the sense of smell works by odorants triggering the olfactory receptor neurons. But I have one unresolved question: what happens afterwards? I assume the odorants don’t just pile up in the olfactory epithelium. How do the receptors recognize “you’ve been smelled now - time to move along”? What’s the mechanism for getting rid of the odorants and where do they go?

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-turbinate-question/447714/2 "2008-05-02T17:21:40Z")

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I always assumed they were flung out upon exhalation.

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-turbinate-question/447714/3 "2008-05-03T02:21:59Z")

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Thank you for the comments, Little Nemo. Fierra would respond but she’s AFK until tomorrow or possibly later.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-turbinate-question/447714/4 "2008-05-05T01:39:07Z")

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This same question has already been asked twice now:

> **[Unidirectional smell?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465198)**
>
> The appearance of the Smell column is timely. Just the other day, my 6 year old asked me “Daddy, why can you only smell when you breathe in and not when you breathe out?”. I was at a complete loss to explain this phenomenon. Does it have something...

> **[Smell column - what happens to the odorants next?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465009)**
>
> linky So the odorants fit lock-and-key style into the receptors in our nose. Then what? do they fall out? get absorbed? Sit there forever, reducing our future capacity for smell?