THE SENSE OF ODOR
How it Works
Our nose is another inlet for information, and is very sensitive to smell, perhaps not as sensitive as in dogs, and other lower animals, but we can recognize nearly 10,000 different odors.
Our ability to smell, arises from the inner cell lining of the nose, called olfactory epithelium, this layers covers about six sq. cm. near the roof of the nose.
There are, in the mucosa of your nose, several million hair like receptors for chemicals that have an odor.
These small particles are inhaled in the air, are dissolve in the water in the nose, this dissolved chemicals, stimulates the receptors, and this information is compared with stored information, and the odor is registered, and recognized immediately.
The source of the odor can also be identified by following, the strength of the signal.
This is pickup of the scent, which is best observed in trained dogs, they can detect explosives and drugs.
Some unforgettable Facts
- Most of the chemicals you can smell contain at least three atoms of carbon.
- Nasal smell receptors react more to change in level of odor then to steady stimuli.
The nasal receptors may soon stop responding to steady smell so that you have to sniff hard to go on smelling a faint scent.
-The sense of smell is strongest in babies, and helps a baby recognize its mother.
-By the age of 20, your sense of smell will have dropped off by 20%.
-By the age of 60, your sense of smell will have dropped off by 60%.
-The smell of chemical 'pheromones' in sweat may play a part in the attraction between men and women.
-Dogs have olfactory patches 30 times as big as humans.
-Humans can detect smells in concentrations of 1 part in a billion. Dogs are 10,000 times more sensitive.
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