On Sun, 28 Jan 2007 20:12:50 +0100, Len Warner <
novost@...> wrote:
>
> Some groups of chemicals are easily identified by smell, for example,
> ketones or esters. Most common plastics can be identified by
> cautiously sniffing their combustion products. It is a commonplace
> to choose between various palatable or tainted foodstuffs by
> agreeable or disagreeable smells. The nose can be a quite
> discriminating analytical instrument.
> Sulphurous compounds can be uniquely recognizable and
> disagreeable, especially, but not limited to, those that are
> produced by rotting meat (and in my unfortunate experience,
> rotting onions).
> You may be relying on your or your neighbour's ability to detect
> ethanethiol at a concentration as low as one part in 2.8 billion
> to protect you from an explosion from a natural gas leak: see
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion
> [If you've been at the ammonia bottle again, you're excused ;-) ]
Unless the cleaner in question is found and the ingredient list evaluated
you will just have to live with my refusing to believe in any sulphuric
acid in it.
ST