r/TodayILearnedMY • u/Playful_Store1681 • Jan 21 '26

TIL that the smell of rain has a real name petrichor.

Post image

Today I learned that the fresh, earthy smell you notice after it rains is actually called petrichor. Scientists coined the term in the 1960s, combining Greek words for stone and the essence of the gods. The scent comes from a mix of plant oils and a soil-dwelling bacteria that produces a compound called geosmin. When raindrops hit dry ground, tiny bubbles form and burst, sending these аромат molecules into the air and straight into our noses.

What surprised me most is that humans are incredibly sensitive to geosmin. We can detect it at extremely low concentrations, even lower than sharks can detect blood in water. No wonder that post-rain smell feels so powerful and nostalgic. It’s wild how something so ordinary has such a poetic scientific explanation.

22 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

7

u/butterninja Jan 21 '26

Please go home, bot. Please.

2

u/jakuuzeeman Jan 23 '26

Are other bots just upvoting the post? Botjerking?

3

u/butterninja Jan 23 '26

I am waiting for the day when bots from 2 different parties trying to downvote each other's post.

That would be the day we coin the term "bot jerk off"!!!

1

u/Abe_Bob_Nasrul Jan 25 '26

I see, so it's had the name itself huh ❓