In article .com,
says...

Jim Rozen posted:

"do not sniff unknown gas bottles, that's bad policy"

Jim, sniffing an unknown gas is a standard technique in analytical
chemistry, although there is a specific safety procedure employed in
doing so. That is, one wave a cupped hand through the excaping gas,
then bring that hand within range your nose and never deeply inhale
(our sense of smell is very acute with only a highly diluted whiff).
Acetylene, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, chlorine, cyanide
(hydrogen cyanide) and other gasses with distinctive odors are readily
identified using this method. Unfortunately, many fuel gases have no
distinctive odor (hydrogen, butane, methane, propane, etc.).

In addition to analytical chemists, ordinary people working with either
toxic or explosive gas are taught this technique as part of their
training in the fundamentals, so that they can identify the smell of
toxic and some explosive gasses when entering an enclosed structure.
For example, most of us here already are familiar with the odor of
acetylene, but how many without sniff training would associate the
rather pleasant odor of cyanide (it smells exactly like roasting
almonds) with a possibly lethal building atmosphere? Realize that most
of our population does not recognize the odor of roasting almonds,
simply because many have never roasted almonds. :-)

Harry C.



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