Can you smell heat?

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I'm told that LSD allows you to do many of these things very easily.

 

[tweakmm]

No, but I can usually feel heat and smell what the heat is burning.

 

[cubby1223]

You don't smell heat. :roll: The best you can do is recognize the smell of something that is hot.

Smelling heat would be like tasting light...

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: jakalsucks
Ozone maybe? Isn't oxygen converted to ozone at high temperatures?

O3 is produced in the presence of corona discharge and shortwave ultraviolet irradiation of oxygen.

The uncanny thing about O3 is its smell is actually a byproduct of its breakdown since it has such a high oxidation-reduction potential - nearly twice of chlorine!

Chlorine and salts containing chlorides are frequently associated as ozone produced oxidants. This is what presents a challenge in closed loop captive marine systems in which seawater is treated with O3 to raise ORP and "burn off" dissolved organics. For cetaceans this is not nearly as much as a problem as it is for more sensitive marine life such as elasmobranchs and bony fishes.

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
I'm told that LSD allows you to do many of these things very easily.

Hey this is a drug free zone!

Originally posted by: cubby1223
You don't smell heat. :roll: The best you can do is recognize the smell of something that is hot.

Smelling heat would be like hearing light...

It's figurative. Practice personality and get out more and you may be more receptive.

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: cubby1223
Smelling heat would be like hearing light...

Or seeing sound. :Q

Nice that this was only one post down from the one about LSD.

 

[cubby1223]

Dang, you guys quoted my first thought before I decided I liked "tasting light" better than hearing.

 

[Rubycon]

A plate made from cadmium sulfide (oil burner techs call this a CAD cell) can "hear" light falling on it.

Its resistance varies by the intensity of the light. If we connect a pile to one side for our EMF and make a circuit with an amplifier we can "hear" light.

Of course it's more fun to use a silicon (solar cell) that makes its own EMF from a light source.

Here's an experiment anyone can do!

Find a solar cell. They're everywhere. Connect this to a line input on your sound card. Moving the cell around at various light sources quickly reveals that sources that appear to be continuous wave (CW) to your eyes are indeed either turned rapidly on and off (FL and LED displays) or have some type of modulation superimposed on to them. (a 60Hz filament lamp will have a hum riding on the DC offset - this offset will not be picked up by your sound card in most cases)

Either way it's fun to experiment with and a lot of information can be obtained from "listening" to light.

 

[marulee]

Smell the buring air? or Smell other substance?

 

[Howard]

I have infrared-attuned receptors on my forehead.

 

[mercanucaribe]

It's probably burning wires you smell

 

[UberNeuman]

Feel the heat pushing you to decide
Feel the heat burning you up, ready or not

Some like it hot and some sweat when the heat is on
Some feel the heat and decide that they can't go on
Some like it hot, but you can't tell how hot 'til you try
Some like it hot, so let's turn up the heat 'til we fry

/Power Station ladies and gents, thank you I'll be here all night..
//as to the smell of heat - yea, I can smell it. It has a smoldering taint to it - and it really stands out....

 

[conehead433]

I can smell water boiling.

 

[SSP]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn

Originally posted by: potato28
I feel heat, not smell...

Well radiant sources are felt immediately.

For example I can put you in third row of a presentation that uses what we call motion-effect feedback. We'll stick to the heat part for this discussion.

In this example there is a high energy action scene with lots of fire and an explosion. Think of the whacko flamethrower guy in the beginning of Lethal Weapon 4. :Q

Since we're on a living ship @sea, SOLAS doesn't allow us to use propane (real fire!) for effects so we have to resort to tamer things like Christie projectors, smoke, silver screen, and lasers. To make the feeling more realistic (and believe me EVERYONE wants to know LOL) there is a complex hidden apparatus above and to the sides of the stage.

Here's how it works. Basically there are banks of huge quartz halogen lamps that are sleeved so no perceivable light wavelengths visible to the human eye escape. Yet the tungsten-halogen lamp puts out crazy amounts of IR. This is what you feel as heat. A huge bank of condensers is charged and ready at all times. When the effect is triggered by a special soundtrack in the feature, banks of mercury displacement relays connect the condenser banks (several kilo farads) directly to the quartz lamps. Heat is instantly produced and felt on the faces of the audience. The effect is just like if a real fireball were on the stage and it will make people sweat because of a nervous reaction. It's that real.

A full blown system can use a plethora of effects from misters, water canons, electro-hydraulic actuators (EHA), plasma squibs (pacemaker users please use the exit!), and so on.

I could go on but I'm starting to really get off topic here. :Q

Interesting.
I was at one of those pyrotechnic shows and there was a face burning sensation every time there was an explosion (real one, it was out doors). Now I'm wondering if it was the heat from the blast or one of those quartz lamps you were talking about.

The show it self sucks. No amount of pyrotechnic doodads will mask a 15 minute delay in between the show due to audio difficulties.

 

[Rubycon]

If it was outdoors and there was real fire the heat you felt was from the real thing.

The simulating technology is quite immature and has a long way to go. Problem is things are getting too difficult for the (human) body to withstand both mentally and physically! Hence the need for advisories and even release and hold harmless agreements. :Q

 

[classy]

Heat in it of itself has no smell. I would say you can sense or feel heat but not smell it.