Nose as information gatherers

Background

Our nose helps us discriminate a wide range of smells. Helping us savour our food and steer clear of offensive odours, the nose plays a very important role in providing us information about the outside world. Our sense of smell is of course limited in comparison to various other animals, whose existence depends on their ability to smell out the predator or the prey.   

Aim

Recognise the role of nose as an information gatherer. 

Activities

Blindfold your partner. Open the bottles containing smelly substances one after the other and ask him to smell them. Can he tell what the substances are? In how many cases was he correct?

Police dogs smell and catch thieves. Can you also do so? Ask one of your friends to touch an onion or any other smelly object. Can you find out which one of them touched the object?

Ask all your friend to sit in the classroom. Let them each have a piece of paper and hang a wall clock so that all can see it. Burn some paper at a little distance from the class and note the time. Ask your friends to record the exact time when they first smelt the paper burning. Compare the recording of your friends. What did you find? Try the same activity with other smells.

Place a scented rubber on the table. How far away from the table can you smell it. Try with other smelly objects. Write down your results.

Burn some agarbatis in one corner of your classroom and extinguish it. Do you smell it from wherever you are sitting? Do you smell it after 5 minutes?

Related Questions

If a room is sprayed with perfume and if you light some agarbatis in it. Do you smell both the smells? After some time which do you smell better? Why is it that you cannot smell when you have a cold?

What are the tasks that cannot be accomplished if you lost your sense of smelling?