# Sensory reset

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensory-reset/431564
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 29, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensory-reset/431564 "2007-12-29T03:25:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensory-reset/431564/1 "2007-12-29T03:25:16Z")

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The recent thread [What are smells?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=449298) reminded me of a question that I’ve had for a while.

Smell and taste are triggered by molecules in the sample binding to receptors in the nose or on the tongue. What is the mechanism by which the sample is unbound and the receptor is reset to recieve the next trigger molecule?

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### Author: ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sensory-reset/431564/2 "2007-12-29T04:18:56Z")

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Since odor molecules don’t bind covalently, simple diffusion is enough to free up the receptors.  
See Wikipedia’s piece on [Receptor/Ligand binding affinity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligand_(biochemistry)#Receptor.2FLigand_binding_affinity).