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Somewhat related to smell, here's a fun chemical that you might not have heard about: thioacetone. Thioacetone (and some other organosulfur compounds) are extre
by vichu 8y ago
Somewhat related to smell, here's a fun chemical that you might not have heard about: thioacetone. Thioacetone (and some other organosulfur compounds) are extremely malodorous. During distillation of this chemical in the German city of Freiburg, it resulted in vomiting, nausea and unconsciousness within a radius of 0.75km of the laboratory. It's also reported to smell worse when diluted and the odor is referred to as "fearful".[0]
[0] http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2009/06/11/things_i_wont_work_with_thioacetone http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2009/06/11/thi...
Check out other works in Derek Lowe's Things I Won't Work With series for other similarly dangerous chemicals. I first learned of thioacetone from him and have seen other articles of his floating around HN as well.
- pavel_lishin 8y agoReminds me of putrescine, as described in Neal Stephenson's "Zodiac". Also, wasn't something like this chemical a plot device in an Isaac Asimov short story about metal-plating things?
- blattimwind 8y ago> to smell worse when diluted It's possible that non-diluted concentrations smell so intensely that it appears like it smells less. Similar to various chemicals where after a while the smell fades, even when the concentration in the air remains the same.
- vram22 8y agoOr it's possible that the chemical reacts with water when diluted with it, and the reaction forms another chemical which smells worse than the first. Some things do react with water, it's not totally inert, IIRC from school chemistry.