# Is there anything that is truly odorless? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695 "2014-08-03T03:12:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/1 "2014-08-03T03:12:03Z")
Is there anything that is truly odorless? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/2 "2014-08-03T03:17:22Z")
Inert gases. maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/3 "2014-08-03T03:24:42Z")
Carbon monoxide ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/4 "2014-08-03T03:35:57Z")
Water is “supposed” to be tasteless, colorless and odorless. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/5 "2014-08-03T03:43:42Z")
Oxygen ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/6 "2014-08-03T03:51:31Z")
Interstellar space perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/7 "2014-08-03T04:50:09Z")
Methane/Natural Gas. Household gas actually adds a smelly chemical so you can notice when there’s a gas leak. As for farts, they smell because of decaying bacteria & other icky stuff; the gas itself is odorless. There’s actually tons of compounds & chemicals which are technically odorless, since our sniffers haven’t evolved to detect them. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/8 "2014-08-03T05:04:50Z")
ozone, 3 oxygen atoms, has a distinct odor. carbon monoxide is odorless as mentioned, which makes it very deadly. having a detector is good safety. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/9 "2014-08-03T05:12:23Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Water is “supposed” to be tasteless, colorless and odorless. Not to horses. ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/10 "2014-08-03T05:36:06Z")
I know there are things said to be odorless, but are they really? Odorless to us, but are they odorless to every animal? Could they be generating an odor that we just can’t detect? This is sort of a “If a tree falls in the forest…” type of question. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/11 "2014-08-03T06:07:42Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Not to horses. Yes, to horses. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/12 "2014-08-03T07:01:57Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Yes, to horses. You sure about that? I’ve always heard that horses can smell water whereas humans can’t. A’Googlin’ I shall go… ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/13 "2014-08-03T07:02:19Z")
Seems to me any number of solids are odorless. Can anyone smell, say, steel? Is it even possible for molecules from it to become airborne and reach one’s receptors (assuming it’s still solid)? While naturally occurring water (with minerals) may have an odor detectable by horses or dogs or some such, though imperceptible to humans, can any creature smell distilled water? ---
**Author:** ![Tiktaalik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@Tiktaalik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiktaalik)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/14 "2014-08-03T08:55:38Z")
Iocne powder. I’m sure of it. ---
**Author:** ![Tiktaalik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@Tiktaalik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiktaalik)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/15 "2014-08-03T09:01:10Z")
Iocane ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/16 "2014-08-03T12:21:26Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Seems to me any number of solids are odorless. Can anyone smell, say, steel? Is it even possible for molecules from it to become airborne and reach one’s receptors (assuming it’s still solid)? Iron has a smell\* so I’d guess that steel with enough iron in it would smell as well. Granted, I’m not saying it has a strong smell, but if you put your nose right up to it iron is what most people are thinking of when they say something smells or tastes metallic. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/17 "2014-08-03T13:48:11Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > You sure about that? I’ve always heard that horses can smell water whereas humans can’t. A’Googlin’ I shall go… Horses cannot detect distilled water, but they can smell the vegatation aromas that occurs on the banks of natural waterways. Similarly, ancient mariners in sailing vessels could smell "land ". Which means they could smell the aroma of land-based life. Every emanation into the atmosphere has an “odor”. in that it is chemically different from others and can potentially be detected, but there may be some that are not detectable to any known evolved organism. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/18 "2014-08-03T14:13:54Z")
Nitrogen. It’s around 80% of the air you breathe. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/19 "2014-08-03T14:22:57Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Methane/Natural Gas. Household gas actually adds a smelly chemical so you can notice when there’s a gas leak. As for farts, they smell because of decaying bacteria & other icky stuff; the gas itself is odorless. > > There’s actually tons of compounds & chemicals which are technically odorless, since our sniffers haven’t evolved to detect them. That was going to be my first response, then I got side tracked on the wiki page looking at [this picture](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Gas_pipeline_odourant_injection_facility.JPG) (while checking the spelling for Mercaptan) and happened to notice that it says that Natural Gas is almost totally odorless, so I left it off. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695/20 "2014-08-03T14:36:46Z")
> [@Tiktaalik](#): > > Iocne powder. I’m sure of it. I’d bet your life on it. (and its “Iocane”) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-that-is-truly-odorless/694695.md?page=2)