Chemistry For Your Life

Why does rain smell?

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#029 Rebroadcast

What's that smell? This week, Melissa and Jam explore the chemistry of smell. Now a lot of smell science has to do with our physiology and neurology. We'll talk some about that, but the chemistry has to do with the actual smells in the air. What are they? How do they get into the air? How can we detect them with our noses and brains? Why does rain have a smell, and why does it smell good? Let's find out.

References from this episode

  1. Aerosol generation by raindrop impact on soil - Young Soo Joung & Cullen R. Buie, Nature Communications
  2. 2 Americans Win Nobel for Demystifying Sense of Smell - Lawrence K. Altman, The New York Times
  3. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004 Press Release - Richard Axel & Linda B. Buck, The Nobel Prize
  4. A Novel Multigene Family May Encode Odorant Receptors: A Molecular Basis for Odor Recognition - Buck and Axel
  5. Chemists and bad smells (and sulfur): A productive pairing - Ashutosh Jogalekar, Scientific American
  6. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/reactions/videos/2017/the-smell-of-durian-explained.html
  7. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/reactions/videos/2018/whats-that-after-rain-smell-made-of.html
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