Divine Angel said:
Arts said:
a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer can be used to analyse scents.. has been tested in forensics for perfume analysis from clothing exhibits.
^ this. This is how scienticians can replicate the smells of meat frying or freshly mown grass.
Or chocolate in a plastic.
There was an episode of “dirty jobs” … This one.
“Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs uses Microanalytics™ AromaTrax® technology to get to the bottom of diaper odors”.
I’ve never heard of a portable gas spectrometer, or a fast one for that matter. It’s a great idea. Let’s see what’s for sale on the web.
“AromaTrax system which combines multidimensional gas chromatography with a state-of-the-art olfactory detector and a practical reporting system … There are no hand- held odor detectors. There are no electronic noses that detect odors. There are hand-held detectors for some individual target volatile compounds (such as explosives) and some of these compounds may have odors”.
https://www.vernier.com/products/sensors/gc2-mini/
Size 1.3 kg, 10.8 cm x 13.3 cm x 19.1 cm, can detect odours directly from the air, but easier if the odours are in a concentrated form.
Takes 15 minutes (give or take 5 minutes) to come up with a result.
Price $3,000 USD.
Cymek said:
How hard would it be to make a machine (portable if possible or even build into a phone) that could analyse a smell/odour and tell you what it is, what it’s made up off, it’s source and even lead you to it.
Could you say mass clone a dogs nose attach it to your phone and design an app around it with built in etiquette protocols so it doesn’t try to lead you to smelling peoples bottoms and/or crotches
But let’s see, I wonder if you could make something that is smaller, lighter and easier to use. Like a pregnancy test kit. this would detect a much smaller range of smells, perhaps up to 10,000 smells, but be optimised for the smells you’re looking for.
Or like an explosives test kit. “The use of colorimetric test kits for explosive detection is one of the oldest, simplest, and most widely used methods for the detection of explosives. Colorimetric detection of explosives involves applying a chemical reagent to an unknown material or sample and observing a color reaction.”
Then there’s the “lab on a chip” option. Also known as µTAS “micro total analysis systems”. This is also used for DNA testing and there are proposals to use it for detecting AIDS. This technology is still in its infancy.
Hold on, there’s this. https://www.odormonitor.com/
Handheld Odor Meter. 3 models are available in various situations.
- “OMX-SRM” is suitable for detecting odor in lavatories, measuring smell of cigarettes, medicines, foods and odor from production process.
- “OMX-ADM” is satisfactory for measuring pet odor and ammonia smell, detecting odor in hospitals and nursing homes, measuring garbage odor level in garbage disposal plants, restaurants and fish markets.
- “OMX-TDM” is appropriate for detecting TVOC in living environments, petrochemical factories and manufacturing plants for organic solvent products.
No, that’s a start but it’s not good enough. It only detects a single composite smell, “OMX cannot identify and designate the types of gas contained in the odor. There is no correlation between the indicated value by OMX and human sense of smell. The ingrained cigarette smell in a room is usually low gas concentration and it’s difficult to detect by OMX in some cases even though human nose may smell it”. Start-up time is 2 minutes or 10 minutes, depending on model.
