What is “Rain Smell?”
You’ve been there before. In the midst of a torrential down pour. Maybe out in a field somewhere, or at least somewhere with a little grass/trees/nature. And that clean, clean, smell just drifts up from the ground.
What is it?
How does this smell come to exist?
What is “Rain Smell?”
Get ready for a scientific exploration of this phenomena.
Petrichor
Petrichor is the smell of rain, coined by Australian scientists in the 1960s.
Lord knows what they were smoking on to come up with that name.
Basically, when lightning strikes, O3 (ozone) and nitric oxide are formed in the air, because of science. These ozone molecules are carried down with the rain, contributing in part to the smell. But that wouldn’t explain the whole thing — why do you not get this smell when it rains in a city?
Another piece of the puzzle here is bacteria in the soil. You have these bacteria, called Actinomycetes, which release a compound.
It’s called geosmin.
And when rain comes in contact with the ground, it gets released into the air and contributes heavily to the small.
Geosmin can be detected by the human nose at less than 5 parts per trillion. I’m not a mathemagician, but that seems pretty small. May have to release some kind of cologne or perfume brand around this. Hustlers always hustle.
The final clue in the mystery of the petrichor smell comes from the plants themselves. The beautiful, stationary residents of planet Earth.
When it’s dry, many plants produce Stearic Acid and Palmitic Acid. These are fatty acids, different from LSD style acid. The science is meaningless to me.
Yet when it rains, these compounds are also released into the air, adding to the smell.
So that’s it. Now you know. Next time it pours rain, and you smell that wonderful, fresh Earth scent, it was petrichor all along.
And it was a mix of acids, ozone & geosmin. Stand outside in a downpour once in awhile. Watch the rain fall. Be at one with the planet. The force of nature is an amazing thing. Major vibes exclusively.
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