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Cyrus
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Nope, I like NH3.
As long as I only get 1 good whiff, after a few seconds it gets annoying.
I just have a wierd sense of smell I guess.
And yes, I lost the ability to smell HCl for 1 day. At first I thought that all of the HCl had escaped as gas, and that I couldn't smell it
because the bottle just had water in it, which is not very reasonable, but then I did some test, I think tasting the HCl, and immediately decided
there was some left.  IIRC, I could still feel the corrosive effect within my
lungs and nose, but there was no smell.
edit-- I know that it is hard to believe, but you'll have to take my word for it. I can't email you my nose. The one way to prove whether
or not I am lying would be to have several sciencemadness members, including you, all deliberately sniff or use conc. HCl a lot for a few days, and
then record their results here.  The wisdom of that, however, would be
questionable.
[Edited on 29-7-2004 by Cyrus]
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maniacdoug
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I decided to set fire to a small pile of sulphur the other day... It smelled great until I stuck my face over it and took a huge whiff...
Ouch - that made my whole head water 
I also love the smell and taste of black powder. I have a nasty habit of eating it occasionally, and believe me, black powder farts are VERY
potent... (I found my own strangely addictive though)
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garage chemist
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The most lovely smell I've ever produced chemically was the one made by adding a piece of nitrocellulose to hot 10% NaOH solution. It first
dissolves and then it smells like fresh bread and fresh pretzels.
Try it out, it works. I've got no idea which reaction is producing that smell. I know that the NaOH should hydrolyse the nitrate groups to form
NaNO3 and normal cotton.
But instead of forming cotton again, the NC dissolves completely. Any ideas as to what is happening here?
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JohnWW
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The reaction of ordinary cotton with a strong alkali is the "mercerization" of cotton, usually done with the fibers under tension. The
process imparts a pearly lustre to it, increases its strength, and increases affinity for dyes. This was patented by an Englishman, John Mercer, in
1850.
If the nitrocellulose, with an excess of strong alkali above that necessary to hydrolyse the nitro groups, subsequently dissolves in the alkali, it
may indicate alkaline hydrolysis of the cellulose further, into its constituent monosaccharide groups, or at least into oligosaccharides and starches.
However, saccharides are usually hydrolysed by acids. Another possibility is the formation of a polymeric salt through the -OH groups which become
charged -O- groups.
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guaguanco
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| Quote: | Originally posted by maniacdoug
I also love the smell and taste of black powder. I have a nasty habit of eating it occasionally, and believe me, black powder farts are VERY
potent... (I found my own strangely addictive though) |
You need to get out more.
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chloric1
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A smell I like
THe comniation of lumber and Muriatic acid(conc HCl) is VERY pleasing to me. It has nice background odor and is pungent enough that you only want to
sample sparingly!
Fellow molecular manipulator
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garage chemist
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I really like the smell of hydrogen phosphide, it reminds me of my first attempts at making phosphorus from sodium phosphate and aluminum powder
(before I could buy red P).
The reaction was rather violent, but the residue didn't glow in the dark, there was a reddish sublimate on the glass though.
But on adding water, it smelled like PH3 very strongly.
Also, I totally like the smell of acetic acid. Its vapor is also an effective antidote when you've inhaled ammonia.
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sparkgap
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Damn. Smelled phosphine and lived to tell about it? Why not try arsine while you're at it?
Anyway, the best smelling chemicals for me are camphor, cinnamaldehyde, linalool and ethanol. The worst ones were the alkylamines I've had to
handle in the lab...
(~_^)
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UhhKaipShaltaBlet
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I like vanila , Chlorobutanol , Acetone , Tuluole. And Acetone Peroxide smell. The worst - ChloroAcetone , Hydrogen Sulfide , HCl , NO2
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Magpie
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Don't put your nose up to a slighly warm flask of acetic acid/hydrochloric acid.  You'd think I'd know better at my age.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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JohnWW
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I thought the worst-smelling compounds were H2Se, H2Te, H2Po, and, even worse, organic-substituted seleno- and telluro-mercaptans. Also very toxic,
but the smell gives them away.
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Darkfire
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I bet H2O would even have a hell of a stink if we werent evolved in it.
\"I love being alive and will be the best man I possibly can. I will take love wherever I find it and offer it to everyone who will take it. I
will seek knowledge from those wiser and teach those who wish to learn from me.\" Duane Allman
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neutrino
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It think this thread is more about chemicals we have worked with and less about exotic super-nasty chemicals.
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runlabrun
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Darkfire: I think so to.... could you imagine the possibilities?
For me the worst would be butyric acid, i can stand most smells, so most of the mentioned compounds although i dislike the smell of i can stand them
if i have to.... but vomit? come on now thats just rough....
The best smell would be ammonia for the fun value on repetition or vanillin... mmmm vanilla....
-rlr
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Synopsis
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Sassafras oil smells great, wintergreen oil too is a good pick. Diethyl ether would my favorite solvent for that matter, I find it weird that none
seems to like it as much. Someday I won't resist the temptation of taking a good sniff of the stuff  . The worst thing I smelled would be hydrogen sulfide, cadaverin (1,4-diaminobutane, well named) and 2-allylsesamol.
The latter really gives you an urge to vomit.
You must be kind of weird to like ammonia's smell. It stinks! And well, I pity you people that claims to like the smell HCl. Sounds more like a
"I got the biggest dick" kind of talk. HCl *dosen't smell*, it burns! You can't smell it, with a negative pKA, it just reacts with
all parts of your nose. Sniffing too much of it will make you unable to smell for the rest of your life...
Your theory is crazy, but it\'s not crazy enough to be true. - Niels Bohr
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Cyrus
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I'm hurt, Synopsis. That cut me deep, man!
You obviously don't have a nose masculine or tough enough to handle and appreciate the smell of raw HCl!
Yes, I'm joking!
This post has not been edited.
[Edited on 5-2-2005 by Cyrus]
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aludel
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Good:
- ethanol (even better: a good single malt but that's a complex mixture)
- iodine
Bad:
- good old H2S
- amyl alcohol/pentanol
- carbon disulfide
- bromine (although I like that in a weird way)
- How about kakodyl compounds As2(CH3)4 and analogs? I've never smelled them but any compound named after its smell must be overwhelming!
The stuff mentioned elsewhere, like certain tellurium compounds, is definitely on my whiff-list! If there is one thing hard to put to words, it's
odour - you have to experience it yourself
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I am a fish
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| Quote: | Originally posted by aludel
Good:
- iodine
Bad:
- bromine (although I like that in a weird way) |
Don't they smell very similar to you? I doubt I could tell the difference between the halogens by smell alone.
It is possible that you are merely used to smelling them in different concentrations? Bromine is much more volatile than iodine and so with similar
conditions, far more of the vapour will reach your nose. The concentration of a substance can have a great effect on the desirability of its odour.
(For example, many perfumes contain very small quantities of foul smelling substances.)
[Edited on 8-2-2005 by I am a fish]
1f `/0u (4|\\| |234d 7|-|15, `/0u |234||`/ |\\|33d 70 937 0u7 /\\/\\0|23.
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JohnWW
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indole is one such substance used in perfumes.
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neutrino
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Bromine and iodine smell very different to me. Iodine has this nice smell that is easy to smell at low concentrations. Bromine, on the other hand,
doesn’t really have much of a smell. By the time you can smell it, it’s already stinging your nose quite strongly. This might, however be one of
those things that anesthetizes your smell receptors at high concentrations (or maybe I’ve burned mine off by now).
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Saerynide
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I think they smell different as well. Iodine has a cleaner metallic smell (and it does kinda smell nice). Bromine is on the other hand, is
nauseating and makes me wanna throw up.
"Microsoft reserves the right at all times to monitor communications on the Service and disclose any information Microsoft deems necessary to...
satisfy any applicable law, regulation or legal process"
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FloridaAlchemist
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Pyridine sticks
Pyridine stinks to high heaven
PU
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Skinflint
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I don't appreciate the smell of iodine at all! Anyways, when I was dissolving steel wool in dilute HCl I took a wiff of the solution and was
immediately greated with an absolutely horribly potent taste of rust in my mouth and in my sinus. I don't see how this was so awful, but It was
by far my most unpleasant smell experienced in the lab. It was like drinking rusty water, but a hundred times worse. I still don't understand
why it was so bad.
similarly I like the smell things that I have memories tied to like NH3, HCl, HNO3 and SO2. To most people these are revolting smells.
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mycoguy
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methane gas. worst, lol
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neutrino
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Methane is odorless. I think you’re thinking of the mercapitans they put in natural gas so you can detect a gas leak.
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