Monday, April 15, 2013

Rain

Why is there a peculiar smell after a shower(Rain)?

ans: The Peculiar smell immediately after a shower is due to certain volatile chemical compounds released by a group of soil-inhabiting bacteria called streptomycetes.
        
     Streptomycetes,grouped as actinomycetes,are abundant in dry warm soil,a million of them can be detected in a gram of the soil.They release compounds such as geosmin and 2methyl isoborneol when wetted by rain water after a long dry spell.That is why we get the musty odour only after the first rain of the rainy season.The smell can be felt in newly ploughed lands also...

No comments:

Post a Comment