Eli5: Why do some smells like fuel oil or garlic stay on hands for hours even after extensive scrubbing and washing?
In: 1482
Good points above but one thing that is kind of missed is at least for garlic and some gas is that they contain thiols (chemicals containing sulfur) and we have evolved to be very sensitive to thiols. Most likely because they are associated with gross things. So having the same amount of a non-thiol on you may be odorless but if it’s a thiol it will still smell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiol
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