2023-06-03 22:43:30
Can smell when the rain approaches? Science has confirmed that unique ability exists and has explained its reason for being.
A wonderful fresh smell it floats in the air after rain and is most intense when it has been preceded by a prolonged period of sunshine.
Incredible as it may seem, this smell can be perceived by some people before even a drop of it has fallen on it. rain where they are, how is it possible?
Geosmin, the bacterium responsible for petrichor
That gratifying smell of ‘wet earth’, which permeates the air after a period of heavy rains, comes from ‘petrichor’.
This word comes from the Greek petros, which means stone (as in petrify), and from ichor, which was the substance that flowed through the veins of the Greek gods.
So the meaning of petrichor is like saying the ‘blood of the stone’, and was coined by mineralogists Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Thomas in 1964.
The smell of petrichor is produced by the ‘geosmina‘, a soil bacterium that releases a chemical responsible for that smell so pleasant to humans.
Humans surpass sharks with their ability to smell geosmin
According to studies, the ability of humans to smell the geosmina it is extraordinary, so much so that it even surpasses the ability of sharks to detect blood.
And it is that, despite what it says, sharks can perceive the smell of blood at a maximum distance of between 100 and 800 meters, while humans can perceive the smell of geosmin kilometers away.
Why is this smell so attractive to humans? The bacterium produces it aims to attract organisms to the soil to spread to other places.
The smell of geosmin spreads strongly after a period of rain because when raindrops hit the ground and flatten out, they trap air pockets.
These bubble up like tiny aerosols, taking the air with them and any chemicals and microorganisms that are there.
Ozone, key to the ability to smell rain before it arrives
According to IFLScience, there is another source of odor in those airbags that could impact human smell: the chemical ‘ozone’.
Ozone has a characteristic odor, which is sweeter than that of petrichor. According to IFL Science, this odor can sometimes indicate that a storm is coming down the road.
This is because winds from the upcoming storm push pockets of ozone gas down to ground level, where human nostrils are more likely to catch them.
This would show that some people are able to smell the coming rain before the first drops fall.
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