Trivia Question For The Day

[Bain]

From 12-down in today's NYT crossword--"Compound added to natural gas to give it an odor."

I didn't know the word, but got it from the crosses.

Answer: Thiol

[Les]

real question is from what plant is this chemical derived?

[Bain]

Clueless . . .

[Steven Hockstein]

I did an inspection a few years ago for a guy that had that job. He told me that he was a chemist and his job was to make sure there was a smell in natural gas. I told him that I do that all the time but don't get paid for the task [:-crazy].

[Bill Kibbel]

Mercaptan doesn't fit?

[Erby]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thiol

Functional group. In organic chemistry, a thiol is a compound that contains the functional group composed of a sulfur atom and a hydrogen atom (-SH). Being the sulfur analogue of an alcohol group (-OH), this functional group is referred to either as a thiol group or a sulfhydryl group. More traditionally, thiols are often referred to as mercaptans.

Ain't google wonderful!

[Richard Moore]

Talking about sulphuric smells (and trivia)...did you know that only about half the population gets smelly pee after eating asparagus? And then there are some others that lack the gene to smell it even if it is stinky. Studies don't yet appear to be conclusive if anyone wants to apply for a grant!

http://www.wisegeek.com/why-does-aspara ... -funny.htm

I wonder if there are some people with an otherwise normal sense of smell that couldn't detect a gas leak?

[Bain]

Yep, I'd heard about mercaptan before, but not thiol. I think the plant Les was referring to is a grapefruit tree.

Umm, 'course a tree isn't a plant, so then again, maybe not.