guy - 1-1-2006 at 17:56
Sometimes when I walk past a dumpster on a warm sunny day, there is this stinky sweet smelling odor. Does anyone know what the odor is, if anyone
even knows what I am talking about?
Magpie - 1-1-2006 at 19:40
beer + hard liquor + rotten fruit + fries + whopper + shake + coke + Taco Bell
probably heavy on the coke and beer 
edit: + diaper
[Edited on 2-1-2006 by Magpie]
Blind Angel - 1-1-2006 at 19:46
It's actually a mess of many chemical, Methane, Mercaptan, H2S and other Sulfides are propably, but not the only, chemical causing this, most of them
being decomposition product. The fact that you smell it especially on a warm sunny day is simple that the hotter the molecule are the more they tend
to move and the more goes in the air, think of wam water vs hot water, one has more fume than the other.
Fleaker - 1-1-2006 at 21:06
Plus there would be all the bacterial decomposition that would be more condusive with the warm temperatures. It's most likely some sort of odd,
probably toxic medley of compounds, but I'll wager that most of them are organic in nature. Perhaps you should take a sample of the material at the
bottom for analysis and become a pioneer in dumpster chemistry!
Cyroxos - 1-1-2006 at 21:53
What makes things odorous? I think I remember hearing something about odors being ions that bind to chemicals in the nose. Are there any certain
chemical features that give certain gasses an odor and others none?
vulture - 2-1-2006 at 14:15
It has been observed that chemicals with the same threedimensional structure smell likewise, regardless of composition.
chemoleo - 2-1-2006 at 14:48
Yes and no, vulture. Enantiomers often smell differently, correct. However, receptors recognise something via functional groups, geometry, hydrophobic
regions and so on - which is unique for each molecule.
It's quite simple - there are receptors made of protein, literally thousands upon thousands of them, in your nose, that bind to all sorts of
molecules. Each triggers your personal perception of smell, like H2S. Some of them bind to various combinations of receptors, triggering a unique
perception of smell. Thats why you recognise smells as unique even if you never smelled the compound before, and even if it doesnt exist in nature.
Also, that's how a dumpster still smells sweet, or a wine may taste of plum, even though no plum flavouring is contained in the wine.
Some people can't smell certain compounds - and they have a mutation in a specfific receptor gene.
Search google for olfactory receptors.
[Edited on 2-1-2006 by chemoleo]
12AX7 - 2-1-2006 at 19:17
That reminds me. One day at work I was cleaning out a basement with an open sewer line. By the end of the day it smelled nutty, the way good aged
cheese smells or tastes nutty.
Says something about both if you ask me 
Tim (always enjoys a good aged swiss on a beef sandwich)
neutrino - 3-1-2006 at 02:45
No one has mentoined this yet, but I would expect amines to be present as well. They are frequently produced by rotting meat.