Scent+vs.+Time

=**Title: Scent vs. Time**=

====**Purpose**: The purpose of this project is to see how long it takes for your nose to lose smell of certain fragrances. After reading the description of this project online, it opened up our eyes to the fact that this happens, and most people don't even notice it. This is what attracted us to test this, was to see how long it actually took to lose sense to a scent, and completely lose sensitivity to the smell. Have you ever put on cologne or perfume in the morning, then after a little while you don't notice the smell any longer? This is called Olfactory fatigue. Olfactory fatigue is a sensory adaptation, and it enables us to get used to smells so that your nervous system doesn't become overloaded and you can respond to new smells (When, 2011). After smelling the fragrance, it's almost as if your nose takes a nap, and you lose the sense of smell when you try and smell that fragrance again. But don't worry, Olfactory fatigue isn't permanent, it only lasts until your nose can "wake up" and you are away from that smell for a little while. The object we are smelling releases molecules that drift up into your nose, and once the molecule triggers a response, it must be disposed of and this takes time (Odor, 2012). After the certain amount of time, your nose loses the familiarity of the smell, and you can smell it strongly again if you just take another whiff. Adaptation, or fatigue, to constant stimulation is a general feature of sensory systems. For instance, the touch receptors cells in the skin adapt to the simulation of our clothes, a fortunate thing, or we would be distracted by them constantly (just like how you cant smell your trademark "scent" that you may smell on other people) (Chemical Senses, 2012).Genes determine the kind of odor receptors that we have, and experiences shape our perceptions (Neuroscience, 2012). Everyone perceives odors and fragrances differently, and some people smell things stronger/weaker than others or lose senses faster/shorter in a period of time than others(Wikipedia, 2012). Our experiment will demonstrate how quickly a smell goes away to different people by testing them with different fragrances and using a timer. We will start the timer once the fragrance is given to them, and we will stop it once the individual can no longer smell anything. This experiment may take a day or longer, depending on the person and how quickly they lose the smell. There will be ten test subjects, and they will be a variety of males and females, five of each gender, with no specific smelling abilities or disabilities. We will use four different scents as well. This experiment will teach people about their sensory receptors that have been passed down in their genes, and will show people why they can't smell things like the distinct smell of their house, cologne, or perfume that they smell every single day.====


 * Hypothesis:** If you smell the candles (a lighter scent), then you will lose the smell of the fragrance faster.


 * Materials:**
 * Cinnamon scented Candle
 * Vanilla scented Candle
 * Mens Cologne
 * Perfume
 * 5 girl test subjects
 * 5 boy test subjects
 * timer


 * Procedure:** In this test we will call five boys and five girls over to test our experiment. To make sure the fragrances will not intefere with one another, we will isolate the testing areas for each fragrance. We will take them into a room, and either light the candle or spray the fragrance into the air. We will start the timer once the test subjects start to sniff the fragrance. Then, we will wait until the test subjects can no longer smell anything. Once they tell us that they can't smell any longer, we will stop the timer each time someone tells us that they can't smell anything and write down the results in our data table. We will then let the test subject smell every other scent, and write down all the times in the chart. After our results, we will see the averages for each scent that people lose smell to, and we will see how olfactory fatigue can occur in different people's noses for different scents.


 * Data: **
 * = Time (seconds) ||= Tester 1 ||= Tester 2 ||= Tester 3 ||= Tester 4 ||= Tester 5 ||= Tester 6 ||= Tester 7 ||= Tester 8 ||= Tester 9 ||= Tester 10 ||
 * = Cinnamon Candle ||= 1:18 ||= 1:43 ||= 2:20 ||= 3:08 ||= 3:30 ||= 3:55 ||= 4:17 ||= 5:50 ||= 6:23 ||= 6:41 ||
 * = Vanilla Candle ||= 0:47 ||= 1:08 ||= 1:34 ||= 1:38 ||= 1:58 ||= 2:46 ||= 2:59 ||= 4:02 ||= 4:15 ||= 4:22 ||
 * = Men's Cologne ||= 0:32 ||= 1:38 ||= 2:58 ||= 4:21 ||= 6:15 ||= 6:25 ||= 6:34 ||= 6:48 ||= 7:07 ||= 8:35 ||
 * = Women's Perfume ||= 3:49 ||= 4:02 ||= 4:16 ||= 4:25 ||= 5:26 ||= 6:03 ||= 7:16 ||= 7:21 ||= 7:42 ||= 8:16 ||

Graph 1: file:///Users/collinharrell/Desktop/School/ISP%202%20Graph%201.png
 * ~  ||~ Avg. Time (Seconds) ||
 * = Cinnamon Candle ||= 4:11 ||
 * = Vanilla Candle ||= 2:33 ||
 * = Men's Cologne ||= 5:32 ||
 * = Women's Perfume ||= 6:12 ||

Graph 2: file:///Users/collinharrell/Desktop/School/ISP%202%20Graph%202.png


 * Analysis:** As you can see in our graphs and data tables, the candles were definitely the lightest scents. The vanilla candle was even lighter than the cinnamon candle too. We think this is because the vanilla was kind of dull once we lit it, where as the cinnamon candle contained a strong scent. The perfume and cologne were very strong scents as well. Together they averaged around 5:45, and the candles only averaged around 3 minutes. The cologne and perfume are very strong scents, and because they are so strong we believe this took longer for the sensory receptors in the nose to take in and adjust to. The scent has to come into the nose and settle, and once it settles into the sensory receptors, then it starts to become more dull. This takes a shorter time for lighter scents, such as the vanilla candle. The vanilla candle was the weakest scent of the four that we tested, and this is why it didn't take as long for olfactory fatigue to influence the scent.


 * Conclusion:** Hypothesis: If you smell the candles (a lighter scent), then you will lose the smell of the fragrance faster - We accepted our original hypthesis because the candles both had a short average time. The Vanilla candle won out between the two, and we believe this is because the vanilla candle is a very light and sort of dull scent and is less strong than the cinnnamon. The men's cologne and the Women's perfume both had the strongest scents, and the average times to lose the smell were longer. Therefore, the strong scents took longer, just as our hypothesis suggests.


 * Limitations:** Problems: Didn't label the guy/ girl testers. We can fix this next experiment by labeling the testers by name or split the graph in two- One for girls and the other for boys. Another problem is we weren't consistent with the testers and used different testers for each. We can fix this next time by making sure we use the same test subjects and use those throughout the experiments for the different scents. One of the biggest problems was that it was really hard to actually test, like a lot of the times many of the different scents took long to time and it was hard to make a hypothesis. Next time, we are going to choose an experiment that is easier to test, like one with plant testing. The last and most significant problem was the fact that the experiment was really subjective, and very qualitative. A main factor in an experiment is the fact that you have to be able to graph and get numbers, but because it was so qualitative, it was really hard to get numbers. We can fix this problem by either finding a different experiment to try or by trying to perform the experiment in a way that would give us more quantitative data.

**Works Cited:**

 * "Neuroscience for Kids - Chemical Senses." //Neuroscience for Kids - Chemical Senses//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. .
 * "Odor Fatigue." //Odor Fatigue//. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. .
 * "Olfactory Fatigue." // Wikipedia // . Wikimedia Foundation, 01 Sept. 2013. Web. 09 Jan. 2013.
 * "Perception Lab 2: OLFACTORY FATIGUE AND MEMORY." //Perception Lab 2: OLFACTORY FATIGUE AND MEMORY//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. .
 * "The Free Automatic Bibliography and Citation Maker." // EasyBib // . N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2013.
 * "When Your Sniffer Snoozes, You've Got Olfactory Fatigue." //When Your Sniffer Snoozes, You've Got Olfactory Fatigue//. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. .