Why do your fingers smell minty after rubbing mint?

Have you ever rubbed a mint leaf between your fingers? Then you lifted your fingers up to your nose and sniffed. Mmm, they smelled cool and fresh, just like mint!

But you only touched the leaf for a moment. So why do your fingers still smell minty afterwards? Let's find out together.

Look very closely at a mint leaf. Its skin holds tiny pockets, smaller than a grain of sugar. Each pocket keeps a drop of minty oil closed up inside.

When you rub the leaf, your fingers press hard on those pockets. Squish! The pockets break open, and the minty oil comes out.

The oil spreads right onto your fingertips. Oil clings to skin, so it stays put and does not drip off. Now your fingers wear a thin coat of mint oil. So how does the minty smell get from your fingers up to your nose?

Mint oil is so light that little bits of it float up into the air. Those floating bits are the mint's scent, which means the smell that something sends out. You cannot see the scent, but it drifts all around your hand.

When you lift your fingers close, the scent drifts into your nose. Your nose catches it, and right away you know it is mint. That is the cool, fresh smell you noticed.

The oil stays on your fingers for a good long while. All that time, it keeps sending out more scent. That is why your fingers smell minty long after you put the leaf down.

When you rub mint, you pop its tiny oil pockets. The oil stays on your fingers and keeps sending scent to your nose.

Now your hand carries a little bit of the mint leaf along. Cool and fresh, it goes wherever you go.