Posted by Dr. Science on 02/18/2013 in
Question |
Since there is a speed of light and a speed of sound, is there a speed of smell?
———- from Andrea M. Allan Ph.D. of Albuquerque, NM
There is, but it’s very slow. It’s speed depends on several factors, most notably the stinkability index of the smellee. Other factors include, wind velocity, humidity, and the sensitivity of the smeller’s receptor, or in layman’s terms, nose. So the smell of, say, parmesan cheese on a winter day, traveling indoors, would be around 6 miles per hour. An Iowa hog lot, on a still summer morning, would propagate at around 550 miles per hour, close to the speed of sound. And if you’re wondering if hogs would smell as bad if there were no one near to smell them, any Iowan would reply, “you bet”.
