Odor amplifier
Encyclopedia
Odor amplifier is the plausible, but fictitious, invention of mechanical engineer Thomas A. McMahon
that is described in his 1970 novel, Principles of American Nuclear Chemistry: A Novel, in which it is invented by a character modeled on Richard Feynman
. It is described as a device that looks like a medicine dropper suspended above a beaker. Small drops of metallic mercury fall from the dropper into the beaker below.
In reality, the odor amplifier fails: The droplets are not exposed in flight for long enough to acquire any perceptible odors, and, if small enough, they tend to bounce off of the liquid surface and out of the beaker.
Thomas A. McMahon
Thomas A. McMahon was a Professor of Applied Mechanics and Biology at Harvard University. His book Muscles, Reflexes and Locomotion is considered a classic on the mathematics, chemistry, biology, and mechanics of animal locomotion...
that is described in his 1970 novel, Principles of American Nuclear Chemistry: A Novel, in which it is invented by a character modeled on Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
. It is described as a device that looks like a medicine dropper suspended above a beaker. Small drops of metallic mercury fall from the dropper into the beaker below.
In reality, the odor amplifier fails: The droplets are not exposed in flight for long enough to acquire any perceptible odors, and, if small enough, they tend to bounce off of the liquid surface and out of the beaker.