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« A Quicker Means of Debating My Last Proposition | Main | Best Buy is Smiling » January 08, 2007Science fact of the dayApparently, New York City stinks today (more than usual, that is). An odor described as the "smell of natural gas" has been reported throughout Lower Manhattan. Trivia buffs, however, know that natural gas actually has no intrinsic odor. Science geeks such as myself know that chemicals known as mercaptans are added to natural gas to create the well-known smell (the article linked above mentions that fact, as well). What is not widely appreciated is that the strength of a smell is not a good indicator of how much of a chemical is in the air. Human odor sensitivities vary greatly with different chemicals. Mercaptans are sulfur-containing chemicals, which create some of the most powerful stenches known to man. (This is probably because these chemicals are produced by rotten food.) The odor threshold of ethyl mercaptan is around 300 parts per trillion. Ammonia is around 300 parts per billion. Acetone (the primary component of nail polish remover) is around 100 parts per million. In other words, you can smell ethyl mercaptan at concentrations a million times lower than nail polish remover. I know from experience that an extremely small amount of a sulfur-containing compound can stink up even a well-ventilated lab. So, whatever it is that has Manhattanites holding their noses today, there probably really wasn't much of it. Posted by Eric Seymour at January 8, 2007 05:07 PM CommentsNY stinks? More than usual? Ever actually been here, Eric? And if so, did you enjoy Cats? Posted by: JohnS at January 8, 2007 08:40 PM | permalink Parts of the city do have an odor, and anyway authority for using the word Eric chose comes from none less than Cole Porter ("The more I know New York the more I think of it/I like the sight and the sound and even the stink of it"). Posted by: PM at January 9, 2007 03:40 AM | permalink Which parts? And Porter wrote that before Congress enacted the Clean Air Act, which by the way, we NYers have greatly appreciated! Thanks to it, I suspect that our metropolitan scent is equal to, or even surpasses, other world class international cities like, say, Indianapolis. And the Clean Water Act, too, should get kudos. Many parts of the Hudson are now swimmable thanks to it, and some experts think the NYC end of it will even be swimmable in our lifetime. Of course getting private corporations (I'm talking about you, GE!) to do THEIR part in cleaning up THEIR pollution has been problematic... Posted by: JohnS at January 9, 2007 10:03 AM | permalink Sheesh! It was a tongue-in-cheek remark; no need to get all riled up. No need to take it personally, either--every large city has its odors (some locales more than others). To residents, those scents may be endearing, while to those raised in less urban settings they may be more off-putting. Posted by: Eric Seymour at January 9, 2007 11:16 AM | permalink Who's riled up? My tongue was firmly lodged in my cheek, too, but I've gotta defend my town... UPDATE: for anyone interested (and I know that's very iffy) -- anyway, it now appears that NJ may have dealt it... Posted by: JohnS at January 9, 2007 11:54 AM | permalink I should think that it would be apparent that JohnS is actually a part of a highly sophisticated Turing test. Posted by: SD at January 9, 2007 11:16 PM | permalink Posted by: DMD at January 10, 2007 02:53 PM | permalink Post a comment |
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