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How does tomato juice neutralize skunk stink?

I just want to know how it happens. The chemical stuff.

2 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    "The origins of the use of tomato juice as a solution for skunk smells are hard to definitively pin down, but today it is widely regarded as somewhat of a homemaker's myth. Still, it can work to a certain extent, but it only masks the odor and fools the olfactory senses rather than neutralizing the skunk smell. The tomato juice solution works because of a phenomenon called olfactory fatigue. Olfactory fatigue occurs when a person or animal inhales a very strong odor over a prolonged period of time; after long enough, they will no longer be able to distinguish the powerful odor, as they have grown accustomed to it. Skunk odors are exceptionally strong, so anyone who is exposed to them for a prolonged period will begin experiencing olfactory fatigue. When this happens, the smell recognition of the sulfur chemicals is diminished, which helps to make other distinctly different smells stand out. Tomato juice has a distinct and lingering smell that many would call pleasant, so a bath in tomato juice can effectively fool the olfactory senses until tomato juice is all that can be smelled. Of course, to people who have not been subjected to olfactory fatigue from skunk odors, the sprayed areas will smell like a combination of tomato juice and sulfur spray. This is because the acids in the tomato juice do not neutralize the sulfur odors."

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    It would most probably be that the acids in tomato juice that start to degrade the smell in "skunk stink"

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