Credits: Social Media
You may be swimming in urine if your local pool has a ‘particular smell’
The strong smell of a swimming pool may fill you with nostalgia and remind you of fun times during summer, but the smell of chlorine is really an indication that it contains pee. Yes, you read that right, pee.
It’s true. A liquid known as trichloramine in pools is a byproduct of urine reacting with chlorine. Ew! Learn about the scientific study behind this gross fact.
Chlorine smell in swimming pools ‘indicates urine is present in the water’
Chlorine in pools helps break down bacteria, viruses, and microbes that would be harmful or even potentially deadly to humans.
However, the chemical also reacts with urine to create a byproduct called trichloramine. Trichloramine is what’s responsible for that chlorine smell that you might get when you enter into an indoor swimming facility.
Former NASA engineer and content creator Mark Rober shared a YouTube video measuring how much pee may be in a swimming pool at any given time.
Warning! The discoveries just might cause you to rethink some of those lovely summer memories.
Scientists were able to determine how much urine were in samples from looking at the levels of artificial sweetener in the liquid. Because the only place artificial sweetener would come from is from a body, not chemicals in the pool water. It’s a better way to find out, because these types of sweeteners cannot be broken down by the body, they usually come out of us!
They realized they couldn’t just calculate the amount of urea in the samples, because this compound can come from sweat as well. Hence, the clever trick with analyzing sweeteners!
Data suggests up to 13 gallons of urine could be in a community public pool – wow. The former NASA engineer also advised that these amounts wouldn’t make you ill at these levels.
Scientific facts behind chlorine smell in pools
That “pool smell” is not due to�chlorine, but to chloramines, chemical compounds that can form in the water. A strong smell can signify a source of irritation to the eyes, lungs, and skin of swimmers.
Chloramines result from the combination of chlorine disinfectants and the perspiration, cosmetics, and urine that enter pools from the bodies of swimmers.
Chlorine disinfectants are added to public water to destroy germs that can give swimmers issues like diarrhea, swimmers ear, and athletes foot. Perspiration (sweat), oils, and urine are unwanted additions to pool water, this is why swimmers should shower before and after entering a pool to wash these substances from the skin.
