• Question: What does the universe smell like or does it has a smell??

    Asked by eviej26 to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 14 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Eviej26, that is a really cool question. Smells are chemical reactions that happen in our noses. I guess if you stuffed the universe up your nose, you would know what it smelled like.

      Our noses have evolved to smell mainly things that are important to us, which usually means molecules based on carbon. These are called “organic molecules”. Not much of the universe is made up of organic molecules, so most of it doesn’t have a smell to us.

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hey! Yeah as Drew said there’s a bit of a lack of organic molecules in space which means it doesn’t really smell of anything to us. But maybe if our noses were different it could smell of something – interesting thought! 🙂

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      In a dust cloud in the heart of the milky way they’ve found an organic molecule, as drew described, which is the flavour of raspberries and the smell of rum! Thats pretty cool huh!

      As we know there is a lack of ‘stuff’ in space, so why are scientists looking for molecules in space?? to try and work out how life and planets begin.. now thats a big project!

    • Photo: Kimberley Bryon

      Kimberley Bryon answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      I don’t know if the universe has a smell but I imagine that each individual planet will probably have its own smell if we could get close enough to smell it as they would be made up of organic molecules. Maybe in the future when we have explored space more we will know what if planets smell of anything.

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I like this question!! And I think yes, as suggested by Amy, Drew, Julia, and Kimberley probably planets and molecular clouds have smells. What I’d really like is a smelloscope so we could check it out! Unfortunately this doesn’t make too much sense though – light can travel really far and fast. But our sense of smell is dependent on receiving chemicals in our nose. Its really hard to imagine smells could travel across the universe then as they have to be carried by these chemicals. They just don’t have the speed light does!

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