it's a fact humans can't smell water but why can you smell boiling water?

Question

you can't small cold or warm water but you can smell boiling water, i found this out while i left the hot tap running.

Answer 1

Water is odorless, but you can sense (not smell) the higher temperature and humidity of the air. You can smell chlorine and other dissolved volatile chemicals released from the water. You can smell the volatiles on the sink and its contents, also released by the raised temperature and humidity.

Answer 2

I have 3 guesses (and these are only guesses)

Perhaps you are not really SMELLING the water, but just SENSING the humidity.

Or, it's possible that the action of boiling is producing a
by-product that you CAN smell, like ozone or something.

Or, if you boiled over some oatmeal or something onto the burner recently, you might have a few molecules of residue left on the burner that produces a faint smell when you use it.

Answer 3

You can't smell boiling water, but you can sense the warm moisture that boiling water produces, which your mind will associate with boiling water.

Answer 4

you are smelling the contaminates cooking off or distilling

Answer 5

I think Andrew P has it right.