Q&A: Smell
Smell
Question
The Rashash in Sha’arei Yosher, Gate 3, chapter 25, in his explanation of the dispute between Abaye and Rava about whether smell is considered substantive, wrote that in smell there are invisible parts that pass from the body of the object to the body of the one smelling it (and something similar also appears in Avnei Nezer, Yoreh De’ah 90). Does the Rabbi know whether this has any scientific basis? And likewise, regarding something that produces sound, is there no such thing there?
Answer
As far as I know, that is exactly what is known today about smell. It is transmitted by particles from the object that travel through the air to the nose. But sound is movement of the air (a pressure wave traveling through the air), not particles of something actually flying around there.