The Smell of Wet Earth After Rain

[exchemist]

Listening to an interview with Susie Dent, the lexicographer well known to watchers of British TV game shows (yes, really), I was much taken with her description of the word "petrichor".

This is the name given by scientists, in the 1960s, to that special smell one gets after rain. People have spent quite a lot of effort to find out what is responsible.....and now we know: geosmin:

Chemically it is a sesquiterpenoid (and a bicyclic alcohol, as the drawing shows). Incidentally, it is often produced along with another compound, 2 methylisoborneol, which is not a million miles from my avatar - but that isn't important right now.

Geosmin is produced by certain soil bacteria and some of it gets released from the soil, as an aerosol, by raindrops. Interestingly, the human nose is extremely sensitive to this compound, being able to detect concentrations in the air down to as low at 0.4 parts per billion. There is speculation that this may have had a survival advantage for early man in semi-arid conditions, enabling detection of distant rain or moisture in the ground. "No' a lo' of people know that", as Michael Caine might say.

So now you know: next time you enjoy the smell after a shower of rain, think "geosmin".

 

[Rival]

It's fascinating how attuned we are to this, but certainly no surprise. It's a wonderful smell.

 

[We Never Know]

Listening to an interview with Susie Dent, the lexicographer well known to watchers of British TV game shows (yes, really), I was much taken with her description of the word "petrichor".

This is the name given by scientists, in the 1960s, to that special smell one gets after rain. People have spent quite a lot of effort to find out what is responsible.....and now we know: geosmin:

Chemically it is a sesquiterpenoid (and a bicyclic alcohol, as the drawing shows). Incidentally, it is often produced along with another compound, 2 methylisoborneol, which is not a million miles from my avatar - but that isn't important right now.

Geosmin is produced by certain soil bacteria and some of it gets released from the soil, as an aerosol, by raindrops. Interestingly, the human nose is extremely sensitive to this compound, being able to detect concentrations in the air down to as low at 0.4 parts per billion. There is speculation that this may have had a survival advantage for early man in semi-arid conditions, enabling detection of distant rain or moisture in the ground. "No' a lo' of people know that", as Michael Caine might say.

So now you know: next time you enjoy the smell after a shower of rain, think "geosmin".

"The scent of rain, petrichor, has two main constituents with actual chemical names and origins – ozone (O3) and geosmin (C12H22O) and humans can sense it at 5 parts per trillion. Trillion! Which means that humans are 200,000 times more sensitive to smelling geosmin than sharks are at smelling blood"

The Scent After the Storm - Primal Derma.

 

[John53]

Listening to an interview with Susie Dent, the lexicographer well known to watchers of British TV game shows (yes, really), I was much taken with her description of the word "petrichor".

This is the name given by scientists, in the 1960s, to that special smell one gets after rain. People have spent quite a lot of effort to find out what is responsible.....and now we know: geosmin:

Chemically it is a sesquiterpenoid (and a bicyclic alcohol, as the drawing shows). Incidentally, it is often produced along with another compound, 2 methylisoborneol, which is not a million miles from my avatar - but that isn't important right now.

Geosmin is produced by certain soil bacteria and some of it gets released from the soil, as an aerosol, by raindrops. Interestingly, the human nose is extremely sensitive to this compound, being able to detect concentrations in the air down to as low at 0.4 parts per billion. There is speculation that this may have had a survival advantage for early man in semi-arid conditions, enabling detection of distant rain or moisture in the ground. "No' a lo' of people know that", as Michael Caine might say.

So now you know: next time you enjoy the smell after a shower of rain, think "geosmin".

I've read a couple of Susie's books and look forward to reading more in the future.

 

[Viker]

Listening to an interview with Susie Dent, the lexicographer well known to watchers of British TV game shows (yes, really), I was much taken with her description of the word "petrichor".

This is the name given by scientists, in the 1960s, to that special smell one gets after rain. People have spent quite a lot of effort to find out what is responsible.....and now we know: geosmin:

Chemically it is a sesquiterpenoid (and a bicyclic alcohol, as the drawing shows). Incidentally, it is often produced along with another compound, 2 methylisoborneol, which is not a million miles from my avatar - but that isn't important right now.

Geosmin is produced by certain soil bacteria and some of it gets released from the soil, as an aerosol, by raindrops. Interestingly, the human nose is extremely sensitive to this compound, being able to detect concentrations in the air down to as low at 0.4 parts per billion. There is speculation that this may have had a survival advantage for early man in semi-arid conditions, enabling detection of distant rain or moisture in the ground. "No' a lo' of people know that", as Michael Caine might say.

So now you know: next time you enjoy the smell after a shower of rain, think "geosmin".

I just wish Michael Caine had narrated the OP.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Reminded me of a poem I composed back in the 90's.

Where I live it is very very hot before the rain falls, sanity starts to escape us, then the rain falls on that heated dust and that smell is just so great, I had to add it to a poem.

Mango Season Obliterates Reason

Gulf Wet Season is approaching,
stifling heat is encroaching.

The barren baked land is dead,
awaiting the rains ahead.

Mango madness grips our minds,
tempers flare, sanity is hard to find.

North Easterlies blow, clouds gather,
humidity rises, sweat on us lathers.
Lightning flashes, thunder rumbles,
dark clouds rise, rain tumbles.

Moisture on the barren baked land,
brings sweet aroma to the nostrils of man.

The "Wet Season" cycle has come
mango season once more begun.

Will this time, we again see it through?
somehow, this, we are always able to do!

A Bristow-Stagg 1992

 

[exchemist]

I just wish Michael Caine had narrated the OP.

I can't really do Michael Caine, or not for long, anyway. My son has a pair of Michael Caine specs, though.


"My...name..is...Harry...Palmer, Harry Palmer..."

 

[exchemist]

"The scent of rain, petrichor, has two main constituents with actual chemical names and origins – ozone (O3) and geosmin (C12H22O) and humans can sense it at 5 parts per trillion. Trillion! Which means that humans are 200,000 times more sensitive to smelling geosmin than sharks are at smelling blood"

The Scent After the Storm - Primal Derma.

Yeah, slightly wrong, but then it does come from one of your trashy internet trawls.

 

[We Never Know]

Yeah, slightly wrong, but then it does come from one of your trashy internet trawls.

Lmao! I must have some how made you butt hurt as you seem to be dogging me lately.
Relax and quit being so AR

 

[We Never Know]

Yeah, slightly wrong, but then it does come from one of your trashy internet trawls.

Do you like "American Council on Science and Health" better?

Google is your friend if you use it


"Though our noses get dismissed as amateurs compared to some animals, there is one compound where we do really well; we can smell geosmin, a chemical (C12H22O) released by dead microbes (commonly Streptomyces bacteria) and which causes that earthy smell, at a level of 5 parts per trillion. That's right, trillion. That is so trace that even endocrine disruption psychic Pete Myers, anti-everything activist Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America, and homeopaths would have a hard time taking it seriously.

To put that in context, a shark can smell blood at one part per million. That means human noses are 200,000X more sensitive to geosmin."

Geosmin: Why We Like The Smell Of Air After A Storm

 

[amorphous_constellation]

kind of depends on where you are? I think that sometimes when I am on the sidewalk after a rain, I can smell earthworms that come up on the sidewalk. I don't know if that's what I'm smelling, but it seems like it

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Listening to an interview with Susie Dent, the lexicographer well known to watchers of British TV game shows (yes, really), I was much taken with her description of the word "petrichor".

This is the name given by scientists, in the 1960s, to that special smell one gets after rain. People have spent quite a lot of effort to find out what is responsible.....and now we know: geosmin:

Chemically it is a sesquiterpenoid (and a bicyclic alcohol, as the drawing shows). Incidentally, it is often produced along with another compound, 2 methylisoborneol, which is not a million miles from my avatar - but that isn't important right now.

Geosmin is produced by certain soil bacteria and some of it gets released from the soil, as an aerosol, by raindrops. Interestingly, the human nose is extremely sensitive to this compound, being able to detect concentrations in the air down to as low at 0.4 parts per billion. There is speculation that this may have had a survival advantage for early man in semi-arid conditions, enabling detection of distant rain or moisture in the ground. "No' a lo' of people know that", as Michael Caine might say.

So now you know: next time you enjoy the smell after a shower of rain, think "geosmin".

That's a pleasant smell isn't it.

I learned about this in my student days studying microbiology. it is one of those fun facts that stays with you. But I'm glad I stopped by and learned even more about it here.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

It's fascinating how attuned we are to this, but certainly no surprise. It's a wonderful smell.

I enjoy that smell. It has so many connotations about renewal and the fresh, clean appearance of the woods after a morning rain.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Reminded me of a poem I composed back in the 90's.

Where I live it is very very hot before the rain falls, sanity starts to escape us, then the rain falls on that heated dust and that smell is just so great, I had to add it to a poem.

Mango Season Obliterates Reason

Gulf Wet Season is approaching,
stifling heat is encroaching.

The barren baked land is dead,
awaiting the rains ahead.

Mango madness grips our minds,
tempers flare, sanity is hard to find.

North Easterlies blow, clouds gather,
humidity rises, sweat on us lathers.
Lightning flashes, thunder rumbles,
dark clouds rise, rain tumbles.

Moisture on the barren baked land,
brings sweet aroma to the nostrils of man.

The "Wet Season" cycle has come
mango season once more begun.

Will this time, we again see it through?
somehow, this, we are always able to do!

A Bristow-Stagg 1992

I like that.