how smell is percieved...

[rody084]

Hi,

how do we percieve smell? i read somewhere once that differnet smells have differnent frequencies at which they vibrate...and those frequencies interact with nerve recepticles in our nose and interact wiht certain genes...

can someone clarify for me how it works off of vibrations that interact with your nose?

thank you in advanced!

[NateTG]

Each chemical that we smell reacts with a chemical receptor that is in your nose. These chemical reactions create electricity which is amplified and sent to your brain.

[rody084]

how do they react with those receptors though?

is it through vibrations that resonate with the receptors?

like a certain smell has a certain frequency of vibration...

and there is a receptor with the same natural frequency which the smell resonates on?

just like those tuning forks which have a natural frequency that they respond to... do our senses respond in that way also?

[NateTG]

Not really. It's chemistry. It's not realy within my ability to explain that here, but its more like round pegs and round holes, but in three dimensions.

[rody084]

hmmm..that makes sense... does the sense of taste work the same also?

[NateTG]

It's also chemical, but not nearly as specific. You can only taste sweet, salty, bitter and sour. BItter and sour have to do with PH, sweet has to do with sugars, and salty has to do with electrolytes.

[zg74]

where did you read aboute the frequencies and the smell?