Why when wearing a mask, or anything meant to filter things, still allow smells to penetrate easily. How do smells still attach to things that allow it to penetrate when other things (such as viruses) really dont?

Question

Why when wearing a mask, or anything meant to filter things, still allow smells to penetrate easily. How do smells still attach to things that allow it to penetrate when other things (such as viruses) really dont?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

If a smell molecule was the size of a grain of salt, a virus would be about the size of a school bus. They exist on completely different scales of size.