Odor
The odor detection threshold is the lowest concentration of a certain odor compound that is perceivable by the human sense of smell. The thresholds of a chemical compound is determined in part by its shape, polarity, partial charges and molecular mass. The olfactory mechanisms responsible for a compound's different detection threshold is not well understood, as such, these thresholds cannot yet be accurately predicted. Rather, they must be measured through extensive tests using human subjects in laboratory settings.
On the topic of absolute threshold and the absolute minimum threshold: Absolute threshold in neuroscience, psychology, and psychophysics, is considered the lowest possible level of a detected stimulus. According to the seventh edition of Psychology, Themes and Variations, absolute threshold is “for a specific type of sensory input and is the minimum stimulus intensity an organism can detect,” (120). An example of this would be an odor test. The least amount of the odorous object necessary to still make people smell the odor would be the absolute threshold. So, absolute threshold is the least amount of what we can detect and respond to. Thus, from this it can be concluded that the absolute minimum threshold is the measure of that lowest frequency that organisms still detect for a specific sensor.
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Famous quotes containing the word odor:
“The spring over there takes you by the throat, the flowers blooming by the thousands over white walls. If you strolled around for an hour in the hills surrounding my town, you would return with the odor of honey in your clothes.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“There is no odor so bad as that which rises from goodness tainted. It is human, it is divine carrion.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To me, bitterness is the under-arm odor of wishful weakness. It is the graceless acknowledgment of defeat.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)