Do you know what owes the rich smell of wet earth?

maymaita (53)in #englis • 5 years ago (edited)

In particular one of my favorite smells is that smell of wet earth. But where does this smell come from? Well, I took the task of reading and investigating a bit the reason for this question.

After reading a bit I was surprised to realize that this rich smell is caused by nothing more and nothing less by a bacterium, a bacterium called Actinomycete.

The bacterium Actinomycete is a type of bacteria that is very positive. Most of these bacteria are found in the soil and grow in it when the conditions are humid and warm. This bacterium is a producer of spores that produce substances called Geosmina, which in its Greek origin means wet earth.

The smell of the Geosmina is felt when the ground where it is wet. A group of engineers published an article in a magazine called Nature here the link of their article

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/07/518811502/watch-raindrops-catapult-bacteria-into-the-air-and-its-beautiful

These engineers describe in an exact way how the process occurs using advanced high-speed cameras and phosphorescent dye. They recorded drops of water falling on different types of soils in which the Geosmina was present.

This allowed them to see that the raindrops that fell on the ground generated super thin water bubbles no wider than a human hair. Then the bubbles rose and burst when they reached the ground again.

And when they fell to the ground for the last time they released the bacteria that Geosmina has.

Something positive that brings to many vertebrate animals that live in the desert, usually to camels is that when they perceive its smell, they are sure that there can be water and they will find it in a short time. Nematodes and insects also like this compound very well because when they perceive it they move to where this humidity is.

I hope you liked it and learned from my curiosity. Wish you luck, see you.

#cervantes #sciencie #nature #salud