Rain is mostly liked by everyone and when the raindrops fall on the dry earth, then a different kind of fragrance attracts everyone’s mind, but have you ever thought that why the soil smell sweet after rain, what is the reason behind it? It is possible?
So today we are going to tell why this smell comes from the soil,
Smell sweet after rain?
Actually the fragrance we feel after the rain is called “ Petrichor”. The term petrichor was first used in 1964 by two Australian scientists studying weather. The word petrichor is made up of two words from the Greek language. Petra and Acor. Petra means stone i.e. rock and Acor means liquid from God.
There can be many reasons behind this smell coming from the soil, one of which is the presence of ozone gas in the atmosphere. Whenever a thunderstorm occurs, the oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere split during the thunderstorm, and they recombine to form nitric oxide.
This ozone gas is present in the atmosphere and at time rain, some amount of it mixes with water and produces a special kind of fragrance. This fragrance is slightly pungent, in a very deep smell of chlorine is found. The second reason is the presence of a special type of bacteria in the soil. The name of this bacteria is “actinomycetes”.
These bacteria grow in the soil when the soil is wet and rich in moisture. This leaves some holes on the top surface of the soil and as the raindrops fall on the surface of the porous soil, they turn into tiny bubbles of air. These bubbles move upwards before bursting and ejecting very small particles called “ aerosols ” into the air. These aerosols spread this sweet fragrance.
Trees & plants
Another reason for the fragrance coming from the soil is also the oil coming out of trees and plants. Plants continuously secrete oil and when it rains, this oil quickly mixes with raindrops and spreads to the surrounding environment.
Then the soil reacts with the rainwater, which emits a special kind of fragrance that pleases all of us and fills us with freshness.
