Book 10, Question 97
Why Can Your Nose Smell Cookies From Across the House?
You can smell cookies from across the house because tiny scent molecules float through the air. They travel into your nose and land on special sensors. So you can smell food before you even see it!
More fun facts
- When you smell something, molecules float up into your nose and reach smell receptors.
- There must be enough of a smell chemical in the air before your receptors can send a strong enough signal to the brain.
- Smell neurons grow right through the bony plate that protects the brain so they can touch odor molecules.
- Your eyes use just three types of color receptors, but your nose has about 400 types of smell receptors.
- Sometimes a single chemical is enough to create a recognizable smell.
Sources: Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine
Questions kids ask
How does a smell reach my nose?
Smell molecules float through the air and up into your nose, where they meet smell receptors.