Is there a speed of smell?
Any comments from the pros on here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Since there is a speed of light and a speed of sound...
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Well, I can't quite tell if this was a serious question, but ...
In a closed container with absolutely no air movement, a smell would disperse by Brownian motion in a spherical pattern around the source. I'm afraid it's been too many decades since I studied chemistry for me to give you the equation for the rate off the top of my head, but I can say that it is dependent on temperature and pressure.
In most any real-world situation, of course, there's a lot of movement to the air - wind, turbulence, convection etc. which would overwhelm the Brownian dispersion.
So while the theoretical answer is yes, the practical answer is no.
In a closed container with absolutely no air movement, a smell would disperse by Brownian motion in a spherical pattern around the source. I'm afraid it's been too many decades since I studied chemistry for me to give you the equation for the rate off the top of my head, but I can say that it is dependent on temperature and pressure.
In most any real-world situation, of course, there's a lot of movement to the air - wind, turbulence, convection etc. which would overwhelm the Brownian dispersion.
So while the theoretical answer is yes, the practical answer is no.
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Re: Since there is a speed of light and a speed of sound...
I checked in my secret files. Bacon is in first place. You don't want to know what holds second place.
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