So I've read two funny studies today. One about sweetened swimming pools and other on why the taste of whiskey changes by putting in some water (even ice)
The common subject in both of them is how our sense of smells is quite more telling than we might think but we are not trained to use it properly.
First, is Pee. That classic almost nostalgic smell after they clean swimming pools by adding some chlorine. Is actually the result of the reaction from the urea in your pee with chlorine (most of it, there's some urea in your sweat)
The more smelly the pool the more pee.
In fact, chlorine at the normal dilution used in swimming pools is normally not toxic. The irritation in your skin and eyes, as well as the change in the texture of your hair, comes from Nitrogen Trichloride that is toxic. The chemical compound can also be used as an explosive and as a lachrymatory agent. Quite the substance.
The study, "Sweetened Swimming Pools and Hot Tubs" used acesulfame potassium, a common almost ubiquitous artificial sweetener that goes unchanged since you eat it till you pee it, as a marker for the content of pee in a pool.
The result. A lot of pee in swimming pools are the norm. You disgusting pieces of shit
Gallons of pee. Geez. That's why you oughta take a shower before and after.
Now you know. If it smells like clean is not precisely clean (yet sterile).
The other was "Dilution of whiskey – the molecular perspective"
To make a long story short, is due mainly because of Guaiacol a type of phenol that comes from the oak casks. Not from the malt itself.
The interaction is complex but by diluting a whiskey from 45% to 27% you increase the surface density by close to one third. The idea is getting the concentration close to 20% where the magic ratio appears.
(if you know what I mean)
The image above illustrates just how complex the interactions are. Yet even a single drop of water is enough to alter the flavor if it alters this harmony.
When you dilute the whiskey with water you increase the relative density of Guaiacol. This may sound as a chauvinistic remark but if you dilute your whiskey, you most likely like the taste and smell of wood. wink.