Question

We can get the smell of perfume sitting several metres away due to

A) Particles have high density

B) Particles settle down at the ground

C) Particles diffuses rapidly

D) Particles are not volatile

Answer 1

Hint: The particles present in the perfume are gaseous, so they easily react in the atmosphere. The kinetic energy of the perfume particles is very high.

Complete answer:

At the point when the perfume is released from the bottle it evaporates easily in the air and changes into vapour. The chemicals of the perfume can also be smelt.  Some chemicals  which are used in perfumes are ethanol, acetone, benzaldehyde, formaldehyde, ethyl acetate, camphor and so on. The perfume vapour moves rapidly in all the directions as it is volatile in nature.

The kinetic energy of the perfume particles is very high and hence, the rate of diffusion will also be high as kinetic energy is directly proportional to rate of diffusion. In other words, the higher the temperature, the higher the kinetic energy. 

Molecules with higher kinetic energy diffuses quicker.

That is the reason we can smell the perfume sitting several meters away.

So, option (C) is the correct answer.

Additional Information:

Kinetic energy: The energy possessed by an object in motion.

Diffusion: It is a process in which the particles move from areas of higher concentration to areas of lower concentration. In a solution, a concentrated solute diffuses to spread evenly in its solvent.

Gaseous particles tend to undergo diffusion because they have kinetic energy. Diffusion is faster at higher temperatures because the gas molecules have higher kinetic energy.

Rate of diffusion: It is defined as the change in number of diffusing molecules inside the particle over time.

Note: The possibility for the mistake is that you can choose the option (A). But the density of gaseous particles are lower than other states of matter, such as solids and liquids.