The reason for the fresh smell of the forest after the rain is unraveled. Free Technical Library News

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Unraveled the reason for the fresh smell of the forest after the rain

25.01.2015

We begin to smell when molecules of a smelling substance reach the receptors in our nose. If the substance itself is liquid or solid, then the fastest way to smell is to spray tiny drops of liquid containing the desired substance into the air. Air fresheners work according to this principle - gas from a canister under pressure sprays an aerosol into the air, and the room is instantly filled with the desired aroma. However, in the forest, no one runs around with a can of air freshener. It turns out that there is some other, natural method for obtaining an aerosol.

If the source of the forest smell is on the ground, and the only thing that distinguishes a wet forest from a dry one is falling drops of water, then the key to the puzzle is most likely in them. Armed with high-speed video cameras, a team of MIT researchers set out to see what happens when a raindrop hits a porous surface. It turned out that at the moment of impact, microscopic air bubbles form at the boundary between the fallen drop and the surface. These bubbles, like in a glass of champagne, begin to rise up and, having come to the surface, throw microdrops of water into the air. An aerosol cloud forms over a fallen raindrop, containing substances that the water carried away from the soil surface. And a light breeze will already spread the smell of geosmin throughout the forest.

Naturally, the researchers did not limit themselves to discovering the very fact of aerosol formation by falling drops, but carried out a detailed study of this mechanism. After conducting about 600 experiments in various conditions, they found that the most aerosol is formed with moderate rainfall and average soil moisture. During a heavy downpour, the bubbles inside the droplets simply do not have time to form, and sandy and clay soils contribute to the best aerosol formation.

In addition to forest odors from the ground, aerosols can lift bacteria or spores into the air, which can spread over long distances. And if in the forest the probability of inhaling something very dangerous and poisonous is very small, then in large cities a walk after a little summer rain may not be as useful as it seems.

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