Trivia bit: ‘there are tiny organisms living on your eyelashes’
Insanity: this was stated in high school biology class, rampant eyelash plucking ensued once the microscopes were found…chaotic to say the least
So its not “every time you smell something”.
Sorry to nitpick but I thought this sounded strange so I looked around a bit. Found this article:
http://howstuffworks.lycoszone.com/question139.htm
Snippet:
“In order for you to smell something, molecules from that thing have to make it to your nose. Everything you smell, therefore, is giving off molecules – whether it is bread in the bakery, onions, perfume, a piece of fruit or whatever. Those molecules are generally light, volatile (easy to evaporate) chemicals that float through the air into your nose.”
Can molecules that evaporate from something be described as “little pieces of it”?
Again I’m not deliberatly being awkward I’m just curious as to how exactly smell works. I’m quite prepared to be proved wrong, and btw sorry for hijacking the thread a little.
That’s what it means to me. What else would it be? The object is simply made of lots of molecules and some of those evaporate amd go up your nose so technically, it is true. True, molecules are really, really small but they are still pieces of that object IMO.
Yeah I can see your point. It just sounded strange when I first read it in ultrafilter’s post. I’ll try to read up about it some more, as its got me interested now.
I don’t know about this. Gases are made of molecules, and I have a hard time calling gas molecules “pieces.” Ditto for evaporating liquids.
However, IIRC, whatever substance makes its way to your nose to be smelled must first be dissolved in the moisture that lines your nasal passages in in order to be sensed by your olfactory cells. I believe this is one of the reasons that search dogs have better success on humid days than on dry days.