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> Methane is a gas with a distinct and noticeable smell Methane is odorless https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane

• jfindley 7y ago
  Interesting, thank you! I was surprised by this, as it's the major component of natural gas (as used widely for cooking here), and this has a distinct smell. I went looking however, and discovered that's actually because Ethyl Mercaptan is added specifically to make it detectable by humans. I never realised this, and does indeed explain why it's plausible no-one would have noticed such a large effect.
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  • brohee 7y ago
    We add mercaptan (an horrible smelling, innocuous gas) to natural gas (methane), so we get a chance to notice leaks before an explosion.