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The Nose

What is smell?
Smell. According to dictionary.com it is defined as "To perceive the scent of (something) by means of the olfactory nerves." But what does that all really mean? (Fig 1.3) To put it simply imagine all things being made up of little pieces or particles(1). Now some of these particles can come off or float away. When you breath in with your nose you suck these particles up(2). The inside of the nose it lined with nerves (little wire things that can pick up information) that are sensitive to odors(3). The nerves then send this information to the brain which in turn tells us what it smells like (good or bad). So what is smell exactly? Just pieces of the object you are smelling, so remember that the next time you smell something awful.

Fig 1.3

Ever heard of the saying "stop to smell the roses?". I am sure you have at one point or another. But have you ever really stop to think what makes it possible for us to be able to smell things, good or bad? What is smell and of course why does our noses have "snot" of either liquid or solid form? Well read on and I will explain
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Why do something's smell bad?
Now I know that we all have smelled something really bad that we just want leave the area immediately. But why does things have to have bad odors and how come a smell effects us all differently? To answer those head scratching questions we must know a little more about the chemistry of smell (that is right science comes back to haunt us). In Chemistry there is something called molecular theory, which for beginners states that everything is made up of smaller particles called atoms. When you have several atoms together they form molecules. Now depending how many and on how the atoms in these molecules are arranged will determine the molecule  properties including what it will smell like. Different shapes or elements will give either a pleasant smell, bad smell or no smell at all, when coming into contact with the nerves in the nose. How bad or good the smell will be all depends on how the brain is set up to interpret such smells once the single is received. 
But why have bad smells? Well simply it a defense mechanism in your brain, a self-protection if you will. A bad smell can represent something that is dangerous to inhale, bad air conditions or even something that could effect the way we breath or the body in one way or another. The body does not want to be damaged so if tells us that the smell is bad as a way to persuade us to leave the area and get back to a safer place. 

What is "snot" and where does it come from?
Ever stuck you finger in your nose only to pull it back out and find a clear gooey liquid on it, or even breath out and a yellowish solid flies out? Well my friends that is what we have come to know as "snot" (more or less a slang term). Yes it's gooey, it's gross and annoying at times. But where does it all come from? Why does our body make it?

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