We have invented devices to record what we can see, and devices to record what we can hear.
Why haven’t we invented something to record what we can smell?
How would this work if we did?
\[When I am travelling I really wish I could record the way things smell, because smell is so strongly evocative of memories and sensations.\]
In: Technology
Scents work by way of chemicals entering your nostrils and interacting with your brain stuff in there.
So while it is easy to reproduce light and sound, an object that “replayed” smells would have to contain all of those chemicals, which would be extremely expensive, impractical, and potentially dangerous.
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So we can record sound as it’s just vibrations, play those same vibrations back and you reproduce the same sound. we can record video in a variety of methods all of witch involve it hitting something light sensitive and either recording it or altering what it hits to capture those reflected photons. When it comes to scent it relies on the specific partials entering your nose and interacting, to record and reproduce a smell would require sorting out the particles we are not interested in, then figuring out the chemical/molecular/elemental make up of what remains, then somehow fabricating and reproducing said particles, and keep in mind the wide range of things that cause smell from organic proteins, metals, chemicals compounds, and everything else and you start to see the trouble of replicating all of that.
I had written a sci-fi story several years back and had technology in that world which could record and reproduce scent. So, I have thought on this before, in an attempt to make it convincing within my story.
Basically, recording scent is challenging because scent is a complex mixture of molecules that interact with our sense of smell in intricate ways.
Unlike sound or light, which can be captured and reproduced using microphones and cameras, scent involves molecules that need to be detected and interpreted by our olfactory system (see: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_system).
So, scents are composed of many different molecules. Each scent molecule interacts with receptors in our nose in a specific way, creating the sensation of a particular smell. Capturing and reproducing this complex mixture of molecules accurately is a massive challenge, to say the least. Current technology is just not advanced enough to capture the complete range of scent molecules in the same way our noses can.
Our sense of smell is highly sensitive and can distinguish between the subtle differences. Heck, even if we could detect and capture scent molecules, transmitting this information and reproducing the exact smell for someone else to experience would be incredibly complex.
Unlike sound or light, which travel through air and can be easily reproduced, scent molecules disperse quickly and might not transmit well over long distances or through different mediums. Now, regarding how we might invent something that can record scent in the future:
1. We’d need to develop waymore sensitive and selective sensors that can detect and analyze a wide range of scent molecules accurately. These sensors would need to mimic the sensitivity and specificity of our olfactory receptors.
2. We’d need a way to digitally encode and store the information about different scent molecules (another complex challenge). This could involve creating a database of scent profiles that could be transmitted digitally and then decoded into a physical scent.
3. Wed need to develop devices that can release specific combinations of scent molecules in controlled ways to recreate a particular smell. For instance, it could involve using microfluidic technology or other methods to precisely mix and release scent molecules.
So, overall, inventing a device to record scent would likely involve a combination of advanced sensor technology, data processing algorithms, and innovative methods for reproducing scent molecules.
This would pose a significant scientific and engineering challenge due to the unique properties of scent and our current technological limitations. However, if accomplished, it would revolutionize many fields ( entertainment, healthcare, etc.)
Probably a decade ago, a company developed a scent organ designed to be hooked up to a computer for games and websites. It didn’t take off for two reasons: the chemicals it used (the “scent ink”, if you will) were expensive and the fear that people might troll by making their websites smell like things like sewage.
Sight and sound are forks of energy. Light waves hit our eyes which allows us to see and sound waves hit our ears and let us hear. We can record the light waves and vibrations and store those patterns.
Recreating that is fairly easy, allowing us to replicate sights and sounds.
Smell on the other hand is molecules hitting our nose. We have no way to replicate molecules, so you need to store every type to recreate smells, which would be near impossible.
Seeing works from light hitting your eye. We can use light hitting photo paper to create the same image.
Smelling comes from volatile molecules entering your nose. To recreate it, you need to recreate the exact same molecules in the exact same proportions and then release them into your nose. That means you’d need a machine which contains *every molecule that exists* in *infinite amounts*.
My parents used to have a device called ScentStories which was basically a record player that played smells, pretty cool idea though I’m sure after a certain number of plays it ran out of stuff
You see via light and hear via sound. Light and sound can be easily recreated by machines because they are both non-material phenomena.
Smell is caused by specific chemicals in the air that would have to be released to recreate it.
Because it’s literal particles in the air that become airborne that you actually are smelling
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