gross, but serious question

PearlJamaholic

ive been going through the x-files dvds and last night one of the episodes i watched was the host, with the human flukeworm thing. and i got to wondering if youre underwater, or a liquid can you smell? if you were swimming in sewage would you notice the smell underwater, or just when you came up for air?

failedpersephone

you wouldn't notice the smell until you came up for air. because the olfactory senses are in the nose, and you would be (presumably) not breathing through your nose...so air/scent couldnt get to the olfactory receptors.

Cree Nations

but you know how sometimes it smells like it tastes...this is the same, well at least for me, vice-versa too...no?

qtegirl

Yeah, you wouldn't "smell it" underwater unless you opened your mouth and "tasted it"

PearlJamaholic

why is that? cause you can still smell things when you hold your breath. does liquid do the same thing with smell like it does with does or something?

catefrances

PearlJamaholic wrote:

why is that? cause you can still smell things when you hold your breath. does liquid do the same thing with smell like it does with does or something?

didnt your mama ever tell you to hold your nose if there was something unpleasant you had to swallow so you wouldnt taste it as much?


you cant smell liquids if youre submerged within them. smells have to be inhaled. you cant inhale liquid. youll drown.

PearlJamaholic

catefrances wrote:

didnt your mama ever tell you to hold your nose if there was something unpleasant you had to swallow so you wouldnt taste it as much?


you cant smell liquids if youre submerged within them. smells have to be inhaled. you cant inhale liquid. youll drown.

doesnt make much sense, the stuff is in your nose and you dont smell with your lungs.

vduboise

PearlJamaholic wrote:

doesnt make much sense, the stuff is in your nose and you dont smell with your lungs.

Yeah it doesn't make sense, but sometimes you can taste a smell.

qtegirl

vduboise wrote:

Yeah it doesn't make sense, but sometimes you can taste a smell.

That's because a "smell" is actual molecules of whatever you're smelling that enter your nose. If the smell is strong enough, that means that there is a high concentration of those molecules in the air. Then, if you open your mouth, those same molecules will enter and you'll "taste" them.

catefrances

PearlJamaholic wrote:

doesnt make much sense, the stuff is in your nose and you dont smell with your lungs.

how does it not make much sense?

btw i never said you smell with your lungs.

stick your head underwater and inhale through your nose. just like the air you breath, the water you inhale will end up in your lungs. but thats beside the point. the transmission and detection of smells relies on chemicals which are airborne. they enter your nose when you inhale and dissolve in the mucous in your epithelium. if your nose in flooded with liquid (cause remember you must inhale to smell), the receptors in your nose can not detect or differentiate smells. anyway your survival instincts will not allow you to inhale water through your nose. sure you coould do it but you will pay a price for doing so.

catefrances

PearlJamaholic wrote:

why is that? cause you can still smell things when you hold your breath. does liquid do the same thing with smell like it does with does or something?

thats cause you dont smell with your lungs.

PearlJamaholic

catefrances wrote:

how does it not make much sense?

btw i never said you smell with your lungs.

stick your head underwater and inhale through your nose. just like the air you breath, the water you inhale will end up in your lungs. but thats beside the point. the transmission and detection of smells relies on chemicals which are airborne. they enter your nose when you inhale and dissolve in the mucous in your epithelium. if your nose in flooded with liquid (cause remember you must inhale to smell), the receptors in your nose can not detect or differentiate smells. anyway your survival instincts will not allow you to inhale water through your nose. sure you coould do it but you will pay a price for doing so.

but those airborne chemicals are still in the liquid, so they would be in your nose. i dont think youd need to inhale to smell something very strong. if you could stay underwater for like an hour id think you would be able to smell...

catefrances

PearlJamaholic wrote:

but those airborne chemicals are still in the liquid, so they would be in your nose. i dont think youd need to inhale to smell something very strong. if you could stay underwater for like an hour id think you would be able to smell...

they are no longer airborne chemicals though are they? they are now dissolved in a liquid, therefore not smellable. you cant smell if you dont inhale thats how the sense works. you cant inhale underwater cause you will drown. this is not a difficult concept to grasp, xfile or no xfile.

PearlJamaholic

well in the x-files the creature didnt even have a nose.....

i know the airborne chemicals arent airborne in water, but they are still there. i just thought the the nose itself was some how able to smell. thats why i was wondering about sewage cause those chemicals might still be effective if diluted in water, since they are so strong.

catefrances

PearlJamaholic wrote:

well in the x-files the creature didnt even have a nose.....

i know the airborne chemicals arent airborne in water, but they are still there. i just thought the the nose itself was some how able to smell. thats why i was wondering about sewage cause those chemicals might still be effective if diluted in water, since they are so strong.

the nose itself channels the airborne particles. much like your earbits that stick out, they dont hear but they channel the noises deep into your ear so that you can. the organs that smell are in the upper nose.

think about it this way... water is partly made up of oxygen right? you wouldnt inhale water to breathe would you, no matter the dilution ratio? but still its present in water, right?

you know what you could do? an experiment. mix up some poo with water and stuck your nose in it and see not only if you smell it but if you can actually inhale without it being on its way to entering your lungs.

PearlJamaholic

catefrances wrote:

the nose itself channels the airborne particles. much like your earbits that stick out, they dont hear but they channel the noises deep into your ear so that you can. the organs that smell are in the upper nose.

think about it this way... water is partly made up of oxygen right? you wouldnt inhale water to breathe would you, no matter the dilution ratio? but still its present in water, right?

you know what you could do? an experiment. mix up some poo with water and stuck your nose in it and see not only if you smell it but if you can actually inhale without it being on its way to entering your lungs.

i was actually thinking of that. but id use perfume and put it in a bowl or something, maybe even add some water.

iluvcats

PearlJamaholic wrote:

if you were swimming in sewage would you notice the smell underwater, or just when you came up for air?

wow, just imagine if you swallowed some of the sewage