smelling substances.

[curie]

Hi. Teacher has asked for dropper bottles of smelly substances so kids can be blindfolded and try to guess what they are. Problem - most of the stuff I have here that has any smell comes up with GHS warnings not to inhale - eg - essences, euclyptus oil, even vinegar. Any suggestions?

[curie]

Or am I just being paranoid.

[smeee]

I have used after-shave or perfume on cotton wool in empty film canisters.
I guess you could use disinfectants or detergents as well.
This prac can be re-used over and over

[DavidPeterson]

Reminds me of when I was at uni, our microbiology lecturer stood at the door and would not let us pass until we have inhaled the gases produced from materials in the flask he was holding.

The said flask contained a chunk of meat in a solution containing countless numbers of the bacteria Clostridium perfringens - the bacteria largely responsible for the odour assciated with dead-bodies.

Imagine concentrated dead rat juice in a jar! (is there a vomiting smiley anywhere?)

No wonder I hated micro......

Enjoy your lunch.

[RosalieM]

What about food essence? Eg peppermint, rum, vanilla... surely they will be safe to smell? Especially just using the wafting technique. You don't want to give anything a good sniff in science!

[rodannt]

We do a smellies prac using black film canisters with a bit of each scent under a peice of cotton wool...our list of smellies are
deep heat
onion
rosemary
dim sim
vegemite
tomato sauce
detol
dishwash liquid
liquorice
vinegar
toothpaste
coffee
pva glue
anchovie
plastercine
yeast
curry powder
vanilla
The kids love the prac....

[fibreweb]

My smelly jars contain stuff like coffee,vinegar, tea leaves, cloves, eucyluptus oil, curry powder.

For this exercise I personally would not be concerned about the SDS on vinegar etc saying not to inhale. You are only using small amounts, remember they tell you to use skin protection when using hand wash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wendy