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Ever Wonder About Skunk Spray?

One evening, while walking my dog, I met a skunk. Striped skunks are usually nocturnal. During the day, they hang out in dens made by other animals, including spaces under porches or sheds. They have poor eyesight and supposedly, if you back away slowly, you should be okay. Fortunately, this skunk just shuffled away without raising a stink.

Getting skunked

But if a skunk feels cornered, it will stamp its feet as a warning. Then it will turn its tail so the two glands on either side of its anus line you up. Skunks can fire fluid for up to 5 metres and the smell can carry on the wind for up to 1km! Skunk spray has been described as a combination of rotten eggs and burning tires. The key ingredients are sulphur-based, oily chemicals called thiols. Thiols also occur in decomposing flesh and fecal matter, so our revulsion to the smell makes sense. If this stinkorific spray hits you or your pet, what should you do?
 

Forget tomato juice

For a long time, no effective solutions existed to deal with getting skunked. You may have heard about tomato juice, but apparently this does not remove the smell, it just distracts your nose with another smell.
 

Better living through chemistry

Along comes a chemist named Paul Krebaum, who was working with thiols for other reasons. He wanted to get rid of the smell and this is what he came up with. I put the recipe in the comic, in case you were in a hurry and needed the essentials.
 

The break down

The soap gets the oily skunk spray into solution, so that it can react with the peroxide. The baking soda raises the pH, which helps the peroxide and thiol molecules react. Hydrogen peroxide adds oxygen to the thiol molecule and turns it into sulfonic acid, which does not smell. The baking soda also neutralizes this acid.

I have not personally tested this recipe and hope I never have to. But others have.

If you have any skunk spray stories to share, please comment.

About the sticker

Survivors

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

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Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

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Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

About the sticker

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Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

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Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

About the sticker

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Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

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Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

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Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

About the sticker

Time-Travel T-Rex

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.