Why do people have different reactions to perfume?

Perfume Diffusion and Individual Sensitivity

When a bottle of perfume is opened, the aroma molecules rapidly spread throughout the air. This is due to the process of diffusion, where molecules move from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. This process can quickly make the scent perceptible across a room. However, the ability to smell perfume shortly after opening the bottle is not solely due to diffusion; it also involves other physical and biochemical processes.

To calculate the average distance a perfume molecule moves in one second in the air through diffusion, with a given diffusion constant D of 1.00 x 10-6 m²/s, we can use the formula for the mean free path or utilize the concept of the root mean square distance. However, in the context of this specific question and without further details on the mathematical approach, the calculation itself is not provided here.

The perception of scent is subjective and varies significantly from person to person due to individual sensitivity and olfactory receptors. Thus, while one person finds a perfume's scent overwhelming, another may find it pleasant, as in the case of the student's wife finding the aroma "pleasant" while the student felt suffocated.