3 ms·

How are smells transferred and detected far away after a few seconds when the air is not moving that fast?

• qup 4y ago
  They aren't. The air is moving that fast.
  • taneq 4y ago
    A quarter mile in seconds? That’s brisk! More likely, I guess, that the distance was up to a quarter mile and the time was as low as seconds, but for different observers at different distances.
    • dTal 4y ago
      The velocity of an average air molecule at normal atmospheric pressure is about 1000 mph, so yes - brisk indeed. Of course the mean free path is only a few dozen nanometers, so it'll take about 10^10 collisions before a molecule reaches that far - but they started with "a drop", or something like 10^21 molecules, so statistically there's plenty of opportunity for a few "lucky" molecules to make it - and it's so stinky that we can detect it even in those absurdly low concentrations.
      • mywacaday 4y ago
        Thanks for the answer, what terms should I be googling to get more info?