Solaria 2008

3,2,1, Blast Off!

Sense of Smell ( Experiment 5)

Author:   Mission Control  
Posted: 2/25/2008; 2:43:06 PM
Topic: Sense of Smell ( Experiment 5)
Msg #: 19 (top msg in thread)
Prev/Next: /30
Reads: 514

Purpose: To test if people can identify common smells when another sense is removed (eye sight in this case).


Materials:
Twelve cannisters filled with different substances /liquids
blindfold                           
pencil and paper

smell:

Hypothesis:  

We think the astronauts will get most of the smells correct because the smelly objects are not very hard things to identify.  We think the astronauts have a good sense of smell.


Procedures:
1) Blindfold a subject, and have him/her smell a cannister.
2) Have the subject guess the smell and record it.
3) Repeat with the remaining cannisters.
4) Repeat steps 1 to 3 with our partner, but remember not to give any
    hints or influence their guesses.


Observations:
                      
     GUESS                             ANSWER
 1:  COKE                            1: VANILLA  
 2:  CINNAMON                 2: CINNAMON         
 3:  MARMALADE            3:  LEMON JUICE                   
 4:  COFFEE                        4:  COFFEE           
 5:  CHOCOLATE              5: COCOA
 6:  BASIL                           6: DILL
 7:  NUTMEG                     7: GINGER
  8:  VINEGAR                   8: VINEGAR        
  9:  SOYA SAUCE            9: SOYA SAUCE              
  10: PERFUME                10: PERFUME
 11: AFTERSHAVE         11: AFTERSHAVE           
 12: PENCIL SHAVINGS   12: PENCIL SHAVINGS     


Conclusion: Our hypothesis was right.  The astronauts identified 7 out of 12 smells.  We think that is a good result because they got more than 55% and most of the smells were fairly hard to identify.  The easiest smell to identify was the cheap perfume and the vinegar.  This proves that our astronauts are able to work in unfamiliar circumstances.

                   
Notes:      Smell, like taste is a chemical sense.The sense of smell is activated when molecules or tiny pieces of matter, are inhaled as they travel though the air. These molecules swirl around in the nasal cavities and hit the olfactory epithelium. At the top of each nasal cavity there are about 5 million 'smell cells'. These smell cells are grouped in a thin patch of 2 to 2.5 cm in diameter.With the nose and mouth being Joined smells can also be burping. Smells are transmitted to  the brain and identified when molecules touch the hairs of the olfactory epithelium.

  


 

 

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