Skip to main content
When you smell rain, you are smelling this molecule: geosmin. It also contributes to the distinctive aromas of fish, beans, and beets...and it turns out to be useful for drawing mosquitoes into traps. https://www.acs.org/molecule-of-the-week/archive/g/geosmin.html #rain #chemistry
A tinker-toy model of the molecule geosmin, the primary component of the smell of newly fallen rain.

Geosmin - American Chemical Society

American Chemical Society: Chemistry for Life.
American Chemical Society
#rain #chemistry
Corey S Powell
Corey S Powell  
•
The ultimate source of the smell of rain is a population of soil bacteria known as actinobacteria. When the air becomes humid just as rainfall begins, those microbes get busy & produce aromatic geosmin as a byproduct.
https://theconversation.com/why-you-can-smell-rain-101507 #smell #senses
Photo of a rainstorm as it begins to hit the ground, activating the bacteria that produce the distinctive "smell of rain."

Why you can smell rain

A weather expert explains where petrichor – that pleasant, earthy scent that accompanies a storm’s first raindrops – comes from.
The Conversation
#smell #senses
⇧