Y'know those junky things they sell that make trickling water or rain or thunderstorm noises to make a peaceful ambient mood or help you get to sleep?
Add in an air ionizer to make it even more authentic by adding the ozone, also generated by real lightning. That's the smell outside during a nearby thunderstorm, or near electrical sparks like from a van de graaf or tesla coil, or air ionizers.
If you wanted to really go all out, you could add a waterfall to make real trickling water (yes, water does have a smell) at the touch of a button, which turns off to form a reflective pool if the noise is not wanted.-- Crazy Bastard, Jan 14 2003 What puzzles me about those ionizing air "purifiers" is that ozone is, of course, really quite poisonous.-- DrCurry, Jan 14 2003 *quite* poisonous? Oh. I doubt that an air ionizer creates enough to be dangerous...
And anyways, it smells so good!
Edit: I just read the link; I wasn't referring to ozone generators, just the regular negative-ion generator. They produce ozone as byproduct of the high voltage discharge; I don't know how the ozone generators work.-- Crazy Bastard, Jan 15 2003 what does water smell like?-- po, Jan 15 2003 Good question. I haven't smelt it in a while, but if you haven't had a drink of water and have been in a low moisture environment and then go to have a drink of water, you should notice the smell.-- Crazy Bastard, Jan 15 2003 Are you joking?-- snarfyguy, Jan 15 2003 no, it feels wet. I don't have a very sensitive sense of smell so it is a genuine enquiry. I believe the Inuit can smell snow or was it they had a hundred names for it?-- po, Jan 15 2003 Around these parts they treat the water with chemicals such as chlorine that smell...-- ImBack, Jan 15 2003 Mmm, yeah, rain, dampness, but that's not the water itself. Water is tasteless, colorless and odorless. The inuit thing (dozens of names for different kinds of snow) was an anthropological hoax.
Whose birthday is it?-- snarfyguy, Jan 15 2003 Ahem. If you're ionizing air, you're generating ozone. Your article spells out how dangerous that is.
While ice has a distinct smell (especially fridge ice), and wet clothes have a distinct smell, I've never noticed water having a smell. And it's hard to smell birthday cake from the other side of the pond.-- DrCurry, Jan 15 2003 No, no, I'm totally serious. Water, pure water, does have a smell. However, since the cells in your nose which detect the smell constantly are bombarded with water, you habituate to the smell and don't smell it anymore. That's why it's usually only possible to notice the smell if you've been in a very dry environment for a while before being exposed to water.
The rain smell, I think, is actually the earth getting wet. Smells good nevertheless tho :)
The ozone generators described are not the same devices as ionizers. Ionizers do generate ozone in small quantities, but are not made specifically for that purpose, as are the ozone generators.
Some ozone generators use UV lamps, others do use HV discharge... but they have larger elements built to generate as much ozone as possible.
I doubt that you'll have serious harm come to you if you operate a small air ionizer... Usually it's not even possible to smell the ozone from the little thing, whereas after a thunderstorm the smell is very noticeable.-- Crazy Bastard, Jan 15 2003 Note: the device should be effective for recreating the thunderstorm effect even if you don't notice the smell, since it would have a subconscious effect...-- Crazy Bastard, Jan 15 2003 I have to question whether there is a scent to water or if the scent present is merely of chemicals, minerals or other substances contained *in* the water? Is there a definitive answer regarding this?-- eclecticem, Mar 09 2003 I swear I can smell when it's going to snow; when it's imminent. Maybe it's my imagination, though.-- bristolz, Mar 09 2003 "I lost most of my sense of smell in an accident "
Head trauma? (nosy question, sorry)
I have a friend who lost almost all of her sense of smell when she got ill at about age 10.
Oh, and water definitely has a smell, that's how animals locate it and, often, from miles away.-- bristolz, Mar 16 2003 random, halfbakery