Saturday, April 5, 2008

Goat Stink

For my good friends at Marble and Mud, to the right of this text is the chemical structure of caproic acid. The accepted nomenclature for this substance by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry is Hexanoic acid. It is a carboxylic acid derived from hexane with the general formula C5H11COOH. It is a colorless oily liquid with an odor reminiscent of goats or other barnyard animals. It is a fatty acid found naturally in various animal fats and oils, and is one of the chemicals that gives the decomposing fleshy seed coat of the ginkgo its characteristic unpleasant odor.

3 comments:

Lisa said...

I can only confirm the accuracy of your chart by confirming "goat stank" does make you say, "Oh." Or, is that "Ewwwww."

Long live the goat.

L.

Big Johnny said...

I gotta get the story behind this...

And chicks prefer math majors...

Paul's Blog said...

No, John, they dig chemistry majors. Just ask me.