: Where do smells go when they go away?

Question

Do they literally just disappear or what happens to them

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

When you smell something it is because the particles of what you smell are interacting with receptors in your nose and you nose senses an increase in the concentration of particles of that kind. A smell goes away for two reasons:

1) the particles just get blown away and diffused in the air so the concentration drops

2) your brain stops making you aware of the particles as the concentration now is high but isn’t increasing

Something similar can be when you sit in a chair that your bum gives you the feeling of contact with a chair but it soon disappears and your brain ignores it as it isn’t a change but a constant.