The smell of gasoline is unmistakable. And he has as many detractors as admirers. There are many who hate its aroma when they go to refuel at a gas station. On the other hand, other people love it, either because they like it or because it reminds them of some moment that they hold with special affection, like when they went down to the community garage as children with their parents.
Like it or not, many don’t want to spend much time around this fuel, which includes more than 150 mixed chemicals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).
There is no unanimous opinion about this particular taste, because there is nothing written about tastes, as the Spanish proverb reminds us. Everything starts from the appreciation that each one has. However, this preference has a scientific explanation. Rather, hypotheses that specialists have considered, because there is no conclusive study.
On the one hand, nostalgia is considered. We like gasoline because it reminds us of a positive experience: a road trip with our family or the experience of a house with a large community garage, where the smell of gasoline prevails.
This is what is known as the Proust phenomenon, which this Frenchman defined as the human memory phenomenon in which a perception (especially smell) evokes a memory or reminiscence. It can be incentivized from any sense. In this case, because of the smell.
Another reason that would explain this preference would be benzene, a colorless or light yellow liquid chemical substance that is mainly used as a solvent in the chemical industry and in the pharmaceutical industry, as an initial and intermediate product in the synthesis of numerous substances. chemicals, and in gasoline.
Contrary to what many believe, benzene has a sweet odor, to which many noses are particularly sensitive. When inhaled, it activates the mesolimbic pathway, also known as the brain’s reward pathway. In this way, a temporary sensation of pleasure is created, which many are reluctant to give up.
