CAMBRIDGE, MA (CNN / WTXL) - Science has finally figured out the earthy smell you get after it rains. Researchers at MIT discovered whenever a drop of rain hits a porous surface like soil, tiny air bubbles get trapped at the point of contact.
These bubbles then rise and burst, releasing aerosols that carry the smell along with bacteria and other trapped materials. This all happens very quickly, in just a matter of microseconds.
Scientists used a system of high-speed cameras to capture these images of the raindrops and the aerosol bursts. The results were published this week in “Nature Communications.”
