Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The smelly durian is an Asian delight for some and a pungent nightmare for others. Its smell is so potent that its mere presence is banned on Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit. However, scientists from the German Research Center for Food Chemistry had some trouble identifying the actual underlying cause of its smell. Why is that?
2. Pictured here, which of the following ubiquitous chemical compounds is responsible for the stench found in rotten eggs, swamp gas, petroleum processing, volcanic gas, paper production, sewage, flatus, and even halitosis?
3. Pictured is the chemical formula for allyl methyl sulfide. It is consumed, and along with some other compounds, causes a certain type of bad breath. Once in the stomach, the compound, which is slower to break down than others, leaks into the bloodstream. It can saturate your body's sweat and urine, and it can even find its way into your lungs to give you a second round of bad breath a day or two after eating it. The consumption of which of these foods is responsible for this phenomenon?
4. Carrion flowers, such as Amorphophallus titanum, are infamous for their rotten meat stench. With chemical compounds such as dimethyl disulfide and trimethylamine, the flowers are able to expose many animals and insects to their terrible aroma.
True or false: The main evolutionary reason the Amorphophallus titanum contains these smelly chemical compounds is to repel insects.
5. Bacteria, particularly Staphylococcus epidermidis, metabolize the amino acid leucine. This results in the creation of 3-Methylbutanoic acid, which is better known as isovaleric acid. In which situation would you be most likely to smell the stench of isovaleric acid created by Staphylococcus epidermidis?
6. A skunk's spray is so potent due to thiols, organosulfur compounds that are very detectable to human noses. Taking a tomato juice bath after getting sprayed by a skunk doesn't so much neutralize the smell as it simply covers it up with another strong smell. Oxidizing agents such as baking soda and hydrogen peroxide are much more effective. How do they work on the thiols?
7. Terribly smelly, S-methyl thioesters are compounds produced by Brevibacterium linens, a bacterium used by many companies to create which of the following stinky products?
8. The smell from week-old saltwater fish is actually different than the smell from week-old freshwater fish because they contain different chemical compounds in their bodies.
9. Pictured here is the chemical structure of castoramine, a compound found in castoreum. Castoreum is a yellow excretion from a beaver's castor sacs that, when mixed with urine, is used to mark the beaver's territory. It has a very strong, pungent odor, but in small doses it is actually used in perfumery. What "note" do perfumers attempt to convey when including castoreum in their perfumes?
10. Wet dog is a smell that is not easily forgotten, and it might seem odd that just because a dog gets wet, it will smell bad. Yet there is a good scientific explanation for this:
1. Yeast and bacteria living on the dog excrete waste.
2. The dog becomes wet, and the water breaks down the waste, the molecules of which loosen and get released into the air.
3. The water evaporates, making the air more humid. Humid air can hold more molecules. More and more waste molecules are released from the dog's fur into the air. The increasing molecules in the air find their way up our noses.
Which of the following carcinogenic compounds (the structure of which is pictured here) is NOT released in this process?
Source: Author
trident
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
rossian before going online.
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