posted
I'm full of questions this week. Here's one on ozone. In my WiP, teenage/YA novel, I have a small group of 'creatures' once human, that thrive in an ozone atmosphere, though can inhabit other places too. When the MC and friends encounter them, they suffer effects of the ozone. That's easy to research on the internet, but what I can't find is a definitive description of how it smells. I see things such as: The air around an engine. Or: The air after a thunder storm. We get plenty of those around here, but my sense of smell must off because it doesn't smell any different to me. So I'm asking if anyone can describe it better for me, or at least give me some ideas of how I can describe it in a futuristic setting or point me to somewhere I can get a better description from.
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I've always heard that ozone causes the smell after a lightning/thunder storm (I grew up in the Mid-west so heat lightning "storms" were common events)
I don't know how else to describe the smell after a thunderstorm except "fresh" or "clean."
posted
I don't know if you've seen this already, but I thought it had some potentially useful nuggets of detail (especially the 'Does The Nose Know' segment):
On another site, it was described as the smell that comes off of a lazer photocopier or printer. If you can nasally block out the smell of plastic and paper in an office print room, there's this 'electronics factory' scent that's what I would use to describe ozone.
After a storm, I usually smell more rain and wet grass than ozone.
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I always associate the smell of lightning with ozone, but Wikipedia enlightened me as I snooped around looking into this.
quote:... was discovered by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1840, who named it after the Greek word for smell (ozein), from the peculiar odor in lightning storms. The odor from a lightning strike is from ions produced during the rapid chemical changes, not the ozone itself.
However, I have a feeling this is a little known fact and most people associate ozone with lightning, so this is the kind of fact one can fudge a little if it fits your story.
posted
Long ago I once sat under an ultraviolet lamp for a skin treatment. It smelled strongly of ozone, a very sharp metallic smell that you could almost taste.
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posted
I thought ozone was just oxygen with an extra atom in the chemical bond...my reference books on this are not on hand at the moment, though...
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In my opinion, there isn't a particular *scent* associated with ozone, as much as it is a sensation. I would talk about the opening of the nostrils, almost like the cilia in the nose are being tickled. I might use words like sharp, arresting. In my view, it puts me on alert.
However, I'm the queen of mixing senses (synethesia) - e.g., to me, Magoes taste green, salt brightens the taste of foods, and I don't like to be outside when it's so hot that you can see the heat (not heat waves, but that oppressive heat that makes things seem to drag...me included.)
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I can smell it. I live in the mountains in arizona, which has the most lightening of just about anywhere on earth (really). I love that smell. Here is what it's like to me: it's a rich smell - the air feels charged with energy, alive. It does not smell earthen, biological or organic in any way at all, but sizzling and simmering with its own peculiar life, vital and aware. Both dangerous and seductive. how's that? please feel free. deb
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posted
If you ever used an electric train set, the smell it puts off is ozone. Ionizing air filters also smell of ozone.
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posted
Ozone is O3, or 3 oxygen atoms combined to make the molecule. If I remember correctly, it isn't vastly stable, O2 is more stable since the bond between two Oxygen atoms is stronger. I would think an ozone atmosphere would be less stable and probably would break down into normal oxygen.
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LD is correct. Ozone is O3, and is an unstable compound. Because O3 is an allotrope of an element that exists in a much more stable diatropic form (02--normal atmospheric oxygen), you would have to have a very contrived set of conditions to have an ozone atmosphere. Under anything like normal conditions, O2 and O3 exist in an uneven equilibrium consisting almost entirely of O2, with O3 forming in small quantities for a short time then degenerating.
The ozone "layer" in the earth's atmosphere exists only because of extremely high levels of radiation. The massive amounts of radiative energy present on the fringe of space allow O2 to form O3 much more often, changing the equilibrium and resulting in much higher O3 concentrations. The energy absorbed by the chemical conversion of O2 to O3 is in the UV range, hence its protective properties. You'd have to have a similar energy situation to have an atmosphere with any appreciable amount of ozone.
Another thing to consider is that ozone is a pollutant and lung irritant for mammals.
I knew that chemistry degree would come in handy someday . . .
The ozone is artificially produced inside a chamber for the creatures (there are five of them) at certain times. These creatures are made of gas and energy and like the ozone. Its kind of a drug for them. The rest of the time, they live in a normal atmosphere.
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darklight, are you aware that oxygen is considered a poison? It eats away at a lot of the stuff it comes in contact with, either by burning (combustion usually involves oxygen) or by rusting (which also usually involves oxygen)--a basic difference being that burning happens faster than rusting--they're both called "oxidizing."
If you have ozone, you have extra oxygen molecules floating around that will oxidize more easily than regular oxygen. (The burn/rust action of the loose oxygen molecule is part of why it's harmful to humans. The human body uses regular oxygen to "burn" food in the cells and provide us with energy, but it can do that because of the strong 02 bond that doesn't let the oxygen hurt the lung tissue. It only "burns" when it gets to the cells.)
So how is ozone a drug to an alien system?
Also, ozone has a sharp, tangy smell. As Antimony said, you can almost taste it, and the taste is very metallic.
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HuntGod, you're on it. I would say "it smells like old pennies taste". Also, refering to KDW's message, I believe an ozone machine was used to rid our old house of the smell after we had a fire. And that people report feeling energetic, recharged, increase in good mood after a storm - due to ozone. This ring a bell with anyone else?
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posted
I also believe that ozone is used as a cleaner/deodourizer.
Kathleen, thanks for the info. They aren't aliens. The story is about five children; each from a different race of genetically altered human. The five 'creatures' are many hundred years old and were experiemented on and became these creatures of gas and energy. (I don't know how but that's not important to the story.)
How is ozone (like) a drug to them? HOW? I don't know, is it something that has to be explained? If so, I can't answer that.
Added: I don't call it a drug in the story, that was the easiest way to explain it here. They like the ozone for short periods of time; it sends them a little crazy but I don't explain why.
[This message has been edited by darklight (edited June 19, 2007).]
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