What does outer space smell like? (You're not gonna like it.)
Rocket main Moon and bottle. Boop. You smell that. I could smell that under water. Well don't look at me. Let's get out of here. Agreed. The smells of the universe are not universal. Listen. You smell something.
Different. Objects in space like comets planets moons gas clouds. Each have their own distinctive aroma. I love this melody universe in the morning. Me too. We're all watching the expanse right. If you're not. Start immediately it's the best sci fi show on TV and it's based on a. series of novels which are equally awesome. And I will link below. Anyway the expanse describes the moon as having a gunpowder stink. and I remember reading that and thinking what a cool description. And it made me wonder how did they come up with that. Does the moon really smell like gunpowder.
Turns out it does. For this video we're going it was still no moon landing was not faked. We are going to assume the moon landing was real. You'll believe anything. When recalling the smell of the moon Apollo 17 Jack Schmidt said everyone's impression of. the smell was that of spent gunpowder. And this is strange because the makeup of lunar dust is completely different than. gunpowder Moon Regolith is made up of silicon dioxide glass created by billions of years. of media impacts. It also contains iron calcium and magnesium.
But modern gunpowder is a combination of nitro cellulose and nitroglycerin. So why the similarity. Well nobody really knows but it could be a sign that moon dust is chemically active. So how does the smell even happen. Well there are a couple of theories. One is called a desert rain effect. You ever notice that awesome smell that happens after a summer rain that smells called. Petra core from the Greek words Petra meaning rock or stone. And the word. Which is the fluid that flows through the veins of the gods on earth. Plant oils accumulate on rocks during dry periods along with another compound yachtsman.
which is a metabolic byproduct of bacteria found in soil and during rain the oils and. Joe's men are released into the air causing that distinctive smell of petrol corn. And if there's lightning sometimes you could sniff a little ozone. Obviously there are no plants on the moon but there's still stuff right. The molecules trapped in the dry moon dust may have been activated by contact with the. moist air in the lunar module just like Patrick wore in the desert rain effect. Another theory is solar winds hot Solar Winds of hydrogen helium and other ions Buffett.
the moon's surface and may become trapped in the dust when the ions are dislodged such as. by an astronaut's footsteps then come in contact with the warm air inside the lunar. module they evaporate. That's possible these ions were brought into the cabin producing the odor. Either way the smell didn't last long. By the time the moon dust made it back to Earth it was completely odorless. So we'll have to take NASA's word for it but space itself may even have a smell. Astronauts returning from spacewalks have reported smelling burnt metal or burnt meat and.
no one really knows for sure what this is but it could be molecules of metal leeching off. onto spacesuits then oxidizing when it comes into contact with actual humidifier air. Now I think that's super interesting. So let's work our way around the solar system and see which planet smells like toasted. almonds and which planet smells like the porta potty on the last day of Renaissance fair. That reference was oddly specific. Mercury. Mercury is the smallest and closest planet to the sun named after the Greek god.
Hermes and translated into Latin is more curious. The messenger of the gods and Mercury contains a lot of sodium which doesn't have much of. an odor but there's also a lot of silicon dioxide present like the moon. So we assume the smell would be gunpowder just salty gunpowder. Venus Venus is the second planet from the sun named after the Roman goddess of love and. beauty. When they name the planet they clearly couldn't smell it. Venus has a thick atmosphere mostly carbon dioxide. There's also a heavy clouds of sulfuric acid.
That combination makes Venus smell like a burnt match and rotten eggs. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and the second smallest planet in the solar system. being larger than only Mercury named for the Roman god of war. Mars is often referred to as the red planet because of the iron oxide on the surface. And despite what Matt Damon would tell you Mars doesn't have much of an atmosphere since. Mars lost its magnetic sphere billions of years ago. Solar Winds are constantly stripping away atoms from the outer layer. But what atmosphere there is contains methane formaldehyde carbon monoxide and sulfur.
dioxide. The Martian sand smells like rusty metal because that's when iron oxide is. combining the owners of the surface with the orders of the air and Mars is probably going. to smell like the exhaust of an old car with a bad catalytic converter. It's basically the same stuff. And yeah you can't breathe that. I'm definitely going to die out there. Jupiter. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the largest in the solar system. It's a gas giant named after the king of the Roman gods.
Jupiter's atmosphere is five thousand kilometres thick and actually has multiple layers. each with slightly different smells. The outer layers have a lot of ammonia which smells like horse urine. As you move closer to the surface the atmosphere becomes more sulfuric smelling like. skunk And horse urine. The inner layers have a high concentration of hydrogen cyanide which smells like toasted. almonds and skunk and horse urine and rotten eggs.
Saturn is the six planet from the sun and the second largest in the solar system. After Jupiter it's also a gas giant named after the Roman god of wealth and agriculture. Saturn's atmosphere is 96 percent hydrogen and 4 percent helium so not much of a smell. but there are trace amounts of methane phosphate in acetylene and ammonia and fostering. can smell like rotten fish like So Saturn probably smells like dead fish and skunk and. rotten eggs.
What's your eggs. Good question. Eggs are very high in two proteins. Globulin and keratin. When globulin decays a toxic chemicals released hydrogen sulfide which has a very potent. sulfur smell. I mean. You know it when you smell it and keratin also has very high levels of an amino acid. called system which is also full of sulfur hydrogen sulfide happens to be one of the most. common compounds in the solar system. So. Rotten eggs everywhere. Uranus. Uranus.
Here. Yes please. Please don't say it that way. You say tomato I say you read this to me all you read is potato. Do you mind. Go ahead. I couldn't resist. Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun named for the Greek god. That's Greek god of the sky. That's probably the smelliest planet in the solar system. Stop it. The upper atmosphere is mostly hydrogen so not much of a smell. But as you get closer to the surface it gets pretty ripe.
Heavily drilled Uranus. Yes. We have no hope. Go with gentle. So why does Uranus smell so bad. Well the cloud tops of Uranus are made of hydrogen sulfide that gas responsible for the. foul smell of rotten eggs and. Human flatulence e. A little lower in the atmosphere you'll find methane and ammonia so So you mean it smells. like a public toilet. It does.
Need to named after the Roman god of the sea. Neptune is the 8th and far this planet from the sun at 17 times the mass of the earth. It's slightly more massive than its twin Uranus as it smell as bad as Uranus. Well most of the compounds are frozen in the atmosphere so really just hydrogen and. helium are present. Neptune doesn't have much of a smell at all. That's too bad. I got my jokes. No I'm sure you do everywhere else. A few honourable mentions dwarf planet Pluto is a near vacuum with nitrogen methane and.
carbon monoxide so deadly but odorless one of Saturn's moons and syllabus is covered in. ice but underneath it has an ocean of liquid salt water. It was recently discovered that plumes of methanol are ejected from the surface so it. could smell like a martini. I'm Steve o. This is the Poo Cocktail supreme comments mostly smell like burnt metal and. of course rotten eggs and lots of asteroids contain formaldehyde and cyanide so they. could smell like pickles and marzipan. No sounds like what my ex-wife thought when she was pregnant.
You've been married three times. Huh. I didn't know that. Well I had a life before you came along you know. OK OK take it easy. Sorry sorry I am still working through some things. Anyway the center of our galaxy is the dust cloud Sagittarius B2 and in that cloud. scientists have discovered a substance called ethyl for me which is the chemical. responsible for the flavor of raspberries and the smell of rum. So Not so bad. So here's what we learned today was that the worst smelling thing in a solar system is.
Uranus. I hate you. Thanks for hanging out with us today. My name is AJ. That's Hegel fish. This has been why files have you had fun or learned anything today. Do us a favor give us a thumbs up. It really helps up the channel. Oh and whoever makes the best Uranus joke in the comments wins an amazon gift card. Oh I get why you're disqualified now until next time. Be safe Be kind and know that you are appreciated.
You know I heard there's a black hole near your anus. You stop it.
