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TASTE and SMELL
Taste and smell pep up our life. Indeed life without them would be like a curry without ‘
masala
’. It is therefore acommon subject of many queries from youngsters. Our knowledge about them is much less definite than aboutcolour or sound sensations. No wonder these topics are not covered in any science curriculum up to theundergraduate level. Let us then explore this subject:
Basics:
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Why our senses of taste become poor when we become sick.
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When ever we smell any odorous substance does it reach the lung?
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How do odors affect our body?
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Why does the sensation of smell stop when we cover our nose with a cloth although we are still breathing?
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Why can smell/fragrance not be transmitted from one place to another as sound and light?
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What are the limits to our sense of smell?
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How does the tongue tell us a taste?
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What is smell and how do we sense it?
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Why do different substances have distinct smell?
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Does the smell of a compound depend upon its structure?
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Why do we like certain smells and dislike others?
Smell and taste are senses like vision; balance or hearing. But they differ from these senses in that thestimulation for them are the chemicals in food and environment rather than physical stimulations of theenvironment. They are therefore known as chemical senses. The genesis of the perception of taste or smell is
 
intermolecular interaction rather than interaction of molecules with electromagnetic radiation (vision) or  pressure differences (sounds).The sense of smell is perhaps the oldest and the least understood of our five senses. Through evolution it haskept its connections with those parts of our brain which sort our emotional responses. No wonder we like someodors and dislike others. The exclusive role of sense of taste on the other hand is that of selector andappreciation of food and drinks. Consequently , the loss of sense of taste -- for whatever reason -- is less of a problem than the loss of sense of smell.To be smelly, a substance must be either a sufficiently volatile liquid/solid or a gas. It must be able to releaseinto air around us enough number of molecules/particles which can stimulate our sensory receptors. Ionicsubstances like common salt and minerals rocks have therefore no odour at all. Molecules of an odouroussubstance present in air, when swept into our nostrils, dissolve into the mucus fluid surrounding the cilia tocause the cells to stimulate the neurons. The sensory receptors then fire off electrical signals to the two olfactory bulbs in the brain. It is in the brain that these signals are processed to generate the perception of a particular smell. Thus unless a certain optimum number of molecules of a substance enter our nostrils we do not perceive asmell. Covering our nose prevents many molecules from entering our nose. Hence we perceive less smell bydoing so. The whole process of olfaction requires very small amount of a substance. For example only1/460,000,000 of a milligram of a mercaptan, (a group of odorous chemicals) contained in a whiff of air issufficient to elicit a strong odour. Although this amount may appear very insignificant in terms of mass, if wewere to count the number of molecules in this quantity, it is a whooping 21,000,000,000 molecules. The effectof such a small quantity of a substance on the other organs is usually not very dramatic. However, the brain caninduce several reactions like vomiting or excess salivation in response to certain smells, and some smells domake us feel more hungry.Organic chemists are often taught to identify certain functional groups in an organic compound by its smellwhile analyzing organic compounds. A fruity smell is commonly associated with an ester, the smell of bitter almonds with ketones and that of rotten eggs with compounds having -SH functional group. This has led to atheory that the smell of a chemical depends on properties such as the shape, chemical structure or electricalcharge of its molecules. According to this theory, molecules with different shapes/structures dock at differentreceptors in the nose (our nose contain several million receptors--of 500 to 1000 different types). But recentlysome scientists have identified compounds which are structurally totally unrelated but still have similar odours.For example, decaborane smells of rotten eggs although it has no -SH functional group. This has led to thesuggestion that it is the presence of certain vibrational bands in the infra red spectrum of the substance that maystimulate a particular odour. An S-H bond vibrates at about 2500 wave numbers ( wave number = 1/wavelength)so does a B-H bond found in boranes. But there are controversies still and scientists cannot design compoundswhich may definitely give off a particular odor. We cannot therefore make transducers to reproduce all smells --like a loudspeaker for sounds or a cathode ray tube for images. Smell, therefore, cannot be transmitted likesound or light signals over very large distances.The taste mechanism is also triggered off by the chemical content of the substances in food and drink. Tostimulate the sensation of taste, molecules/ions picked up in the mouth are converted into nerve impulses. Thetaste buds are the heart of this system. Studding the surface of the tongue, palate, pharynx, tonsils (and in some people the inner surface of lips and cheeks also) contain the taste buds. An adult has about 9000 taste buds.Each taste bud has fine hair-like projections sticking on to the surface and is made up of a group of receptor cells. At the opposite end the receptor cells link up with a network of nerve fibers- which carry the information
 
to the brain. The taste buds respond to essentially four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salt and bitter. The sensation of all other tastes is due to simultaneous stimulation of more than one kind of taste buds. The receptors sites for different tastes are located in different parts of the tongue.Quite how the taste buds respond to the chemicals in food and initiate the nerve impulses to the brain is not fullyunderstood. For example, the three positional isomers of nitro methyl aniline have widely different tastes. At present , it is believed that the chemicals in the food alter the electrical charge on the surface of the receptor cells which generates the nerve impulses.It is quite common for people who are suffering from depression to complain of unpleasant tastes in the mouths.The cause of this is not at all clear, but it may be related to close relationship of taste and smell. Smell analyzingcenters of brain have close connections with emotional circuitry of the limbic system and it has been suggestedthat certain moods can conjure up tastes. Besides, certain illness may simulate excess salivation which caninterfere with the sensation of taste of certain food items.
Smells and odors
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Why is there a pleasant smell from earth after first rain?
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Why is a peculiar kind of smell produced when plastic is burned ,but not when paper is burned.?
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Why does a foul smell emanate from decomposing matter?
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When water falls on dry soil it starts smelling. Why is it so?
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Why do some flowers have very pleasant smell some have bad smell and some has no smell?
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While both animals and plants are living being, why does a dead animal starts smelling but not a dead plant?
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How do sniffer dogs find the smell of a person after he has left the place?
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After washing hands with a soap, Why does the smell of the soap lastsfor a long time?
As we now know, the genesis of different odors is always the discharge of certain particles into air which can simulate our olfactory sense. When water falls on a dry soil or when some organic substance decays,many kinds of bacteria which lie dormant may start multiplying and some of them get airborne and reach our nostrils and a few of them can elicit a smell. Similarly burning of plastic or paper or decay of an animal body or a plant release molecules having structures which have some relation with the molecular structure of the parentsubstance, hence the smells associated with them are different. The primary constituents of a plant or common paper ( and even some polymars like cellophane or polyethylene) are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen and theygenerally liberate carbon dioxide and water as primary products of dissociation. An animal body and manykinds of synthetic plastics, e.g., polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or synthetic rubber on the other hand contain other elements also like nitrogen, sulfur and chlorine in sufficient proportion such compound on decomposition canliberate molecules which have a strong pungent smell.The sense of smell is far more important for the lower animals than it is for man. It provides themembers of many animal species with invaluable information concerning the outside world. It leads them tofood, warns them of danger and helps them find their mate. Amongst the sniffer dogs the sense is highlydeveloped. They can detect the presence of a much smaller number of molecules at a particular location. As we pass through a certain place our body leaves some fragments like shedded hair or some other dead cell debris,which are quite characteristic of a particular human being. These particles are detected by the olfactory systemof sniffer dogs.Flowers and certain insects have a symbiotic relationship. Flowers need insects for pollination, a process which is essential for the propagation of a particular species of plants. Without such a mechanism a
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