What element has a strong odor? If the stench is of rotten eggs, it might just be the fault of
sulfur
. This bright yellow element, known in the Bible as “brimstone,” is abundant in nature, and was used for a variety of purposes in ancient times.
What are the top 10 worst smells?
- Bad breath.
- Wet Dog.
- Fart.
- Human Sweat.
- Rotten food.
- Smoking.
- Smelly feet.
- The “juice” at the bottom of your bin.
Which chemical gas has a pungent smell?
Ammonia
is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor, commercially available as a substantially noncorrosive compressed gas.
Does sulfur have an odor?
What does Sulfur Smell Like?
Sulfide and sulfur containing compounds have a characteristic odor reminiscent of burnt matches, skunk, rotted eggs, or natural gas
.
What does acid smell like?
Acids are colorless liquids with strong smells.
Acetic acid has a vinegar-like smell. Formic, hydrochloric, hydrofluoric, and nitric acid have pungent, irritating odors
. Acids release fumes.
Odor molecules are
typically organic compounds of low molecular weight that may be aliphatic or aromatic, may be saturated or unsaturated, and may have diverse functional polar groups
. However, many molecules conforming to these characteristics are odorless.
If you come home one day and smell rotten eggs, it’s most likely
hydrogen sulfide — the smell of sewer gas
. If the issue isn’t one of the ones mentioned above, then it’s likely a sewer gas leak. Our noses tend to adjust to this smell quickly, so even if it disappears, there still could be a sewage problem.
Carbon dioxide, or CO2,
does not have an odor
. It is generally described as an “odorless” gas. Carbon dioxide is nontoxic and is constantly present in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The body metabolizes tellurium in any oxidation state, converting it to dimethyl telluride. This product is volatile and smells
like garlic
.
Propane gas has no odor. Propane companies add a harmless chemical called mercaptan to give it its distinctive “
rotten egg
” smell.
A hydrogen odorant in any form, is a minute amount of odorant such as ethyl isobutyrate, with a rotting-cabbage-like smell
, that is added to the otherwise colorless and almost odorless hydrogen gas, so that leaks can be detected before a fire or explosion occurs.
What is ammonia? Ammonia (NH
3
) is a colorless gas that is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen. It has a strong odor that smells like
urine or sweat
. Ammonia occurs naturally in water, soil, and the air, and is also found naturally in plants, animals, and the human body.
Natural gas, which is primarily methane, doesn’t actually have any odor at all. So for safety, most gas companies add small quantities of a compound call Mercaptan. It’s what gives it the smell of
rotten eggs
and this is for safety so people know when there is a gas leak.
A bit like hot metal, say a soldering iron or a hot stove, a bit like regular stone, say a pile of dry gravel or concrete mix. Sometimes, especially right near the vent, there’s sulfur gases mixed into the lava, in which case there’s a
strong sulfur smell, like overcooked hard-boiled eggs
.
Cocoa beans, when fermented correctly, have a pleasant smell with
sweet and floral notes
. But they can have an off-putting scent when fermentation goes wrong, or when storage conditions aren’t quite right and microorganisms grow on them.
Methanol appears as a colorless fairly volatile liquid with a
faintly sweet pungent odor like that of ethyl alcohol
.
Something has an odor because some of the molecules (remember that
all things are made of atoms
) found in something like an orange make their way from the orange through the air to your nose. The odor molecules float around in the air, moved by the air currents.
Water can be more powerful in its devastation than fire or wind
, because it doesn’t always come by the bucketful. Sometimes it comes drop by drop.
