The Egyptians started it, and the Romans and Greeks followed. Now, perfumes are big business. We love smells. Gross ones or beautiful ones, we love them all, either for the "yuck factor" or the unimaginable feelings and beauty that they conjure. Nearly half of Smithworks' design team wanted to put "old cabbage" perfume in this kit, too! Talk about yuck factor!

More of us wanted to have only lovely smells. The aim of this kit is to let you play the perfumer, blending and mixing your own perfumes to your own special formulae. To do this, you first need to extract and filter your base perfumes using special lab equipment. On top of this we have added some fun ideas we discovered, like magic gel potpourris and "sublime slime!" This is stuff you'd NEVER find at a perfume counter, which makes it an ideal WILD Science kit! What can you discover or create with this kit?

Perfume is described in a musical metaphor as having three 'notes', making the harmonious chord of the scent. The notes unfold over time, with the immediate impression of the top note leading to the deeper middle notes, and the base notes gradually appearing as the final stage. These notes are created carefully with knowledge of the evaporation process of the perfume.

    * Top notes: the scents that are perceived immediately on application of a perfume. Top notes consist of small, light molecules that evaporate quickly: they form a person's initial impression of a perfume and thus are very important in the selling of a perfume. The scents of this note class are usually described as "fresh," "assertive" or "sharp." The compounds that contribute to top notes are strong in scent, very volatile, and evaporate quickly. Citrus and ginger scents are common top notes. Also called the head notes.
    * Middle notes: the scent of a perfume that emerges after the top notes dissipate. The middle note compounds form the "heart" or main body of a perfume and act to mask the often unpleasant initial impression of base notes, which become more pleasant with time. Not surprisingly, the scent of middle note compounds is usually more mellow and "rounded." Scents from this note class appear anywhere from two minutes to one hour after the application of a perfume. Lavender, jasmine, and rose scents are typical middle notes. Also called the heart notes.
    * Base notes: the scent of a perfume that appears after the departure of the middle notes. The base and middle notes together are the main theme of a perfume. Base notes bring depth and solidity to a perfume. Compounds of this class are often the fixatives used to hold and boost the strength of the lighter top and middle notes. Consisting of large, heavy molecules that evaporate slowly, compounds of this class of scents are typically rich and "deep" and are usually not perceived until 30 minutes after the application of the perfume.

The Physics

    * Perfumes are usually mixtures of volatile oils, which are chemicals that evaporate easily when warmed and are spread by air currents, fixatives, and solvents. They seem to work best at body temperature, for instance on our skin. They don't smell the same when cold – as different parts of the perfume may not evaporate into the air.

The Biology

    * How the nose actually smells a perfume is an area where scientists disagree. Some think each type of perfume molecule vibrates in a certain way. Sensor cells in the nose pick up the vibrations and send a message to the brain saying, "Vanilla!" Other scientists think the shape of the molecule locks onto special shaped sensor cells and that send the message to the brain. What do you think?
    * Perfumes can have a very powerful effect upon us. Not only do they smell nice, they can change moods, help us remember things, help us imagine, and create things.

The Chemistry

    * When water is forced through the sample card under pressure (in your pump) the oils form a milky looking mixture called a suspension. The milkiness is tiny droplets of perfume in the water – a real Eau de Parfum ("water of perfume"), in fact.
    * Sublime Slime is a polymer powder a bit like glue. With water, the polymer molecules bind to each other in long flexible chains, but not to you: slime! It also seems to bind to the perfume: Sublime Slime!
    * Potpourri Crystals: Sodium Polyacrylate. These very safe crystals can absorb 100 times their own weight in water. We think the perfume itself is adsorbed onto the outside of the crystals as the water is absorbed inside the crystal. But we are not sure! Can you find out?

A WILD Career
Now, you may be thinking what has this to do with real life science? Our answer: a ton! The science of fragrances and their effect on mood and brain function is just beginning. It has huge implications for mental health and learning research. Some natural scent chemicals, such as pheromones, seem to have no detectable smell but work in an even more powerful way on our bodies. However scent works, we know that our kit smells like loads of fun!

Experiments

    * Use the Glycerine in the Bath Bomb kit to extract the perfumes. Now you can make specially perfumed Bath Bombs for friends.
    * Try using your pump and filter to extract the perfumes from rose petals. We haven't had much luck with fresh rose petals. What are we doing wrong?
    * Next time you are studying for a test, mix a batch of what you might want to call your A+ Blend and let it waft around you as you study. Be certain to take some into the classroom with you and sniff it just before the test begins. Did your memory and grade improve from your average? It should work, but we haven't tried it yet because we're a little too old for school.

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