Re: [lojban] name of smells/chemicals

["James F. Carter" <jimc@MATH.UCLA.EDU>]

On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, John Cowan wrote:
> And Rosta wrote:
> ...
> > Likewise for the chemical one smells (a) when opening a roll of
> > 35mm film, and (b) in the breath or sweat of someone who is extremely
> > deydrated. A German doctor told me it was [keton], which I took
> > to be 'acetone'.
>
> Acetone is a ketone, but I don't think it's the relevant one, as
> acetone is rather toxic.  Probably some random mix of larger
> ketones.

For some reason, when you metabolize fat a byproduct is acetone, and when a
person is very hungry there's enough that you can smell it on his breath.
I don't [think I] produce acetone when dehydrated, though I do then get bad
breath from other odorants; however, there's a correlation between running
out of water and running out of food, which may make people associate
acetone breath with dehydration.

To my nose, the odor from antique :-) 35mm film is other than acetone.

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