Excelsior Space Mission 2006
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Experiment 5 - Sense of Smell

Author:   Mission Control  
Posted: 1/10/2006; 8:20:56 AM
Topic: Experiment 5 - Sense of Smell
Msg #: 72 (top msg in thread)
Prev/Next: 71/73
Reads: 4795

PURPOSE: To learn if the astronauts are able to identify common smells.

HYPOTHESIS: Peter and Michael think that they will do a great job of identifying smells while being blindfolded.

MATERIALS: 14 film canisters, a blindfold, a piece of graph paper, 14 common smells, and a pencil or pen.

PROCEDURE:
1) Sit one astronaut down and blindfold him/her. 
2) Have them smell one container at a time.  You will need to open the containers 1 to 14 in order.
3) Have them guess each smell while being blindfolded.  Record their guesses on a piece of paper.
4) Repeat steps 1-3 for each astronaut and make sure they do this experiment away from other people.
5)Record your results.

RESULTS: Peter got 5 of the smells wrong.  He got the herbal green tea, the pickle juice, the essence oil, the perfume, and the pencil shavings wrong.  Michael got the same results as Peter.

OBSERVATIONS:
Peter and Michael couldn't figure out numbers 11 (perfume) and 12 (pencil shavings) at all.

CONCLUSION:
They did get most of the smells right.  They didn't get the perfume right probably because they are both males and they aren't used to that smell.  Most of the smells they got wrong were close to the other smells that they guessed.  For example Peter thought the green tea was fern.  Our sense of smell helps us in our everyday lives because it is one more sense that helps us figure out our surrounding.  When the astronauts' eyesight was blindfolded, their sense of smell became stronger. 
With a stronger sense of smell, the astronauts really got affected by some of the smells, like the perfume.



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