Seriously: the speed of light is talked about here frequently. The
speed of sound is also a familiar variable.

Has anyone measured the speed of smell?

The reason I ask is: my two dogs normally are at my feet and begging
shamelessly within ten seconds of me opening a can of tuna. Tonight,
however, they were snoozing upstairs when I attacked a can for a snack.

Amazingly, I drained the can and had the tuna salad all mixed and ready
to use before my avid canines bestirred themselves and came running.

I was on the ground floor and they had been sleeping on the 2nd floor.

So, what is the speed of smell?

:)

ToolPackinMama wrote:

ToolPackinMama wrote:

The speed of smell is the speed at which the molecules of scent can
diffuse through the molecules of air. Scientifically, diffusion of gas
is explained by the kinetic theory of gases. It depends on many
factors, such as the speed and direction the air is moving, its
temperature, how many molecules of the scent there are, and even the
molecular weight of the scent. Hot molecules are moving faster and
hence will diffuse faster. Light molecules will diffuse faster than
heavy molecules. And so on.

The mathematics and physics of the kinetic theory of gases gets rather
complicated. The average speed of the gaseous molecules (assuming
they're not being force-blown around by a fan or air conditioner or
something), turns out to be directly proportional to the square root of
(temperature / molecular weight), where the temperature is given in
degrees Kelvin.