Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (6)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lamine, A. B.
Right arrow Articles by Bouazra, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lamine, A. B.
Right arrow Articles by Bouazra, Y.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Chemical Senses 22: 67-75,
© 1997

research-article

Application of Statistical Thermodynamics to the Olfaction Mechanism

A. Ben Lamine and Y. Bouazra

Département de Physique, Faculté des Sciences de Monastir 5000 Monastir, Tunisia

Correspondence to be sent to: A. Ben Lamine, Département de Physique, Faculté des Sciences de Monastir, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia

The application of the grand canonical ensemble in statistical thermodynamics to the stimulus adsorption on the olfactory receptor sites, assuming some simplifying hypotheses, leads us to an expression of the olfactory response R, which is a function of various physico-chemical parameters involved in the olfaction mechanism, e.g. the stimulus concentration, the saturated vapor pressure, the power law exponent and the partition coefficient. This expression of R is in agreement with the olfactory response of the Hill model, but is more explicit. Stevens' law and the olfactory threshold expression are easily deduced from R. The expression of the threshold we established from R enabled us to explain some empirical relations in the literature between the parameters quoted above. The use of the grand canonical ensemble with the chemical potential notion gave us an interpretation of Stevens' law and a better understanding of the role of some parameters involved in the olfaction mechanism, such as saturated vapor pressure and power law exponent. Chem. Senses 22: 67–75, 1997.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.