eli5: Why does anything that smells citrus-ey feel clean?
In: Biology
Many cleaning products make use of the cleaning power of citric acid, using actual citrus not only cleans well but leaves an identifiable scent.
Ever peel and eat an orange??? Does not feel clean afterwords..
Learned association. Over the span of your life you pair certain senses with emotions and thoughts, such as having a certain smell remind you of a moment from your childhood. This same effect goes into our perception of things (like them being clean). A lot of cleaners use citrus since it has natural cleansing properties and a fragrant smell to cover the smell of the chemicals so because of this, we associate the scent of citrus to cleaning products and interpret anything that smells like that to be clean.
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