Petrichor Earth Attar Oil
Gandha Bhoomi or Petrichor Earth Attar oil is one of the rarest attar oils. Petrichor in French means “the smell of raindrop coming from the dry earth after a long summer”.
In India it has been known for thousands of years as Gandha Bhoomi, The Very Existential Aroma of Mother Earth. It can also be called “First Monsoon Smell”, “Rain Earth Smell” and “Mother Earth Smell”.
This rain earth smell phenomenon was first scientifically described in west in a March 1964 paper by Australian researchers Isabel Bear and D. Thomas, published in the journal Nature. Thomas coined the term "petrichor" to refer to what had previously been known as "argillaceous odour". The word Petrichor comes from the Greek words 'petra', meaning stone, and 'ichor', which in Greek mythology refers to the golden fluid that flows in the veins of the immortals.
When a raindrop lands on a porous surface, air from the pores forms small bubbles, which float to the surface and release aerosols. Such aerosols carry the scent, as well as bacteria and viruses from the soil. Raindrops that move at a slower rate tend to produce more aerosols.
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