においの強度と濃度の間の相関に関する考察(第6報) : 混合臭の嗅覚強度に及ぼす温度の影響

Abstract

In one of our foregoing reports, we have, based on the thought that when an odorant molecule be adsorbed on the face of olfactory organ this causes the sense of smell, derived two relations connecting the gross intensity of a compound odor to its total concentration. These are Eqs. (1) and (2), the former holding for the case of non-selective adsorption of ingredients and the latter for the case of selective one. Starting from Eq. (1), we have arrived at Eq. (6) after the introduction of appropriate assumptions as well as certain pieces of information followed by differentiation with respect to temperature. Eq. (6) could be, by simplification, reduced to Eq. (7), by dint of which we estimated the effect of temperature under some typical conditions, and found that the sense of smell declines as the temperature rises; to express numerically, it goes down by a few tenths of the 6-point scale units or less for a 1° increase in temperature. Thus, we reach the conclusion that, in general, the effect of temperature upon the sense of smell is so minor that it might be practiclly ignored. Lastly, it must be mentioned that we are able to draw the same conclusion for the case of Eq. (2), and, in addition, also for a single odor.