What Do Protons Taste Like?

[@SteveMould]

This was going to be a short video about the fact that you can taste protons but then I found out how taste works! Hope you enjoyed it. The sponsor is Skillshare: The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial: skl.sh/stevemould03211

[@woodruff4241]

What is the reason different alkali (and earth alkali) chlorides (LiCl, NaCl, KCL, CsCl, MgCl2, CaCl2, SrCl2 and the odd NH4Cl) taste differently?

[@tejasvinkansal7923]

Hi Steve love your videos

[@raspberrylord9550]

@@woodruff4241 My best guess is how well that chemical or molecule gets A: dissolved into the saliva and B: how much of it passes through the protein tube (done might do it better than others.) Again this is a guess I have no idea, correct me if I'm wrong or my reasoning sounds weird

[@WetDoggo]

This was cool 😁👌

[@hans1120]

Cool idea with distinguishing senses by detected object. However, this had me thinking that, with this distinction, one would have to make a choice of splitting the electromagnetic spectrum in two in order to distinguish the sense of sight from the sense of warmth from heat radiation. But then again, senses are strongly tied to our feelings, so it is perhaps not too surprising if some amount of subjective choice is required :)

[@explosify5035]

"who would have thought that a subatomic particle has a specific taste?" obviously Steve has forgotten about the 6 flavors of quarks

[@jeromeorji1057]

Zing!

[@Crazzzzzzzziesandus]

Mm, this one tastes strange, and this tastes charn? Ooh and this one tastes like top and eugh

[@Sam_596]

Top, bottom, strange, charm, blueberry, and lemon-lime

[@WarpedWartWars]

@@Sam_596 I thought those were up and down quarks, not blueberry and lemon-lime. (which BTW I really like because of the sourness.)

[@Periwinkleaccount]

The charm ones are the best.

[@CodeParade]

But how does a deuteron taste? In all seriousness though, heavy water has a distinct, slightly sweet taste, so I wonder if a deuterated citric acid for example would be distinctive too?

[@evanclarke6496]

If you dissolve citric acid in some D2O and then recrystalize it, you'll have a significant amount of citric deuteracid. You can probably do this at home

[@JakubS]

hey buddy

[@EebstertheGreat]

Deuterons taste sour, just like protons. But probably not _exactly_ the same, since like you said, heavy water affects taste sensation, at least of sweetness, in ways we don't really understand.

[@czKarlos1]

There is one channel with a chemistry professor who said that "drinking whiskey with heavy-water soda will not get you so dizzy (but can kill you)"' kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKquZ56Gnp2ebZo

[@christianlabanca5377]

Sooo....neutrons are sweet? Because of the extra neutrons, the proton was sour and the neutrons are sweet??

[@joanmm2930]

Hello, a chemist here. This video is very very interesting and very well done for the most part. However there is a big mistake that leads to an important misconception. In aqueous solution, like in saliva, protons in an acid solutions are not just free instead they form an cation called Hydronium H3O+ as counterpart of the hydroxide OH-. So instead of tasting protons you are tasting that chemical spicies. Fun fact, Lithium ion in aqueous solution has a lemony taste due to its similar size to the proton in aqueous solution.

[@cartermilan]

wait, is this always true for free H+ ions? e.g., are the protons moving in the electron transport chain of aerobic respiration also H3O+?

[@TheRealQuickSilver]

@@cartermilan yes, H+ ions are highly reactive, and so the lifetime that they exist for in an aqueous solution is extremely small. That said, in the case of the proton pumps in the electron transport chain, it is not moving a full hydronium ion. Instead, it is transferring a proton through the channel by passing it between a chain of amino acid residues. When it gets to the other side of the inner-mitochondrial membrane, you could expect that the proton will react with a water molecule to form hydronium.

[@ogi22]

@@TheRealQuickSilver and @Joan M M Thank you very much for a nice and thorough explanation. World is amazing :)

[@AdrianCuyubambaDiaz]

Thanks for clarifying, it does change my understanding of things. But I think the premise of the video still stands. If you were to put free protons on your mouth, you would taste sour in the same way that putting salt in your mouth would taste salty.

[@badicrain8583]

its a covalent bond

[@integza]

Did you decided to shave between takes Steve? I don't even take shits between takes keep to continuity

[@timbarrett8939]

@Integza, that's commitment to purpose!

[@ashutronomy3448]

Tomatoes are disgusting

[@shizo1932]

@@ashutronomy3448 apple

[@fixitallpaul4847]

The boss makes a dollar while I make a dime. Thats why I shit on company time.

[@Galatzo]

@@fixitallpaul4847 feel free to think that robots don't poop

[@paulgorowitz4007]

“There are all these poisons out there” Shows broccoli… I’m guessing your mom forced you to eat a lot of broccoli in your childhood.

[@Hypercube9]

Or Steve has seen the movie Inside Out.

[@sciencetoymaker]

Bitter is not always poison and not always averse. Bitter hops is almost universally added to beer. Many of us crave bitter greens--vitamins, not poison.

[@Mike__B]

Read something about how genetics plays a role in how foods taste to you, people tend to use the cilantro argument where some people love it and others feels it tastes like soap or something, but dark green vegetables in general just don't taste good to some people based on their genetic makeup. I'm one of those people where dark greens just taste "wrong" (not sure what tastebud is the "wrong" taste bud sense) however the same exact food to my wife and kid are delicious.

[@jpe1]

@@Mike__B don’t overlook the role of habitual exposure in changing ones perception of taste (often called “acquiring a taste” for certain foods) For example, thousand-year-old eggs, or moldy cheese. Feed a French native a thousand-year egg and he will gag at the disgusting smell and taste, and the Chinese native will have the same reaction to Limburger cheese.

[@gibbeldon]

Green vegetables often have poisons that can hurt and in large doses even kill small rodents. They don't "want" to be eaten, contrary to fruits. Even though humans can digest those pretty well, our taste still tells us that those aren't healthy. Pair that with the evolutionary trained warning colour of green and it is easy to see why children many times don't like green vegetables.

[@andrewholaway4113]

This was one of the silliest and most practically educational videos I've seen on this channel in nearly 2 years of watching it. I was entertained throughout, so thanks Steve!

[@prakharmishra3000]

3:00 amogus

[@SreenikethanI]

@prakharmishra3000 bro 😭😭

[@iafozzac]

You know someone is good at explaining things when you already know what they're talking about and still listen to the end

[@crp2035]

You probably already know this, but ionized hydrogen does not move around in aqueous solutions in the form of a "naked" proton. Instead, it combines with water to form the more stable "hydronium" ion, H3O+. So then acidity is the taste of hydronium, not protons?

[@kala_asi]

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined

[@rainbowevil]

Presumably only the H+ ions travel through the ion channel though? Not sure though, good question!

[@daphenomenalz4100]

@@rainbowevil ya he said that, i also don't think it will allow something other than h+

[@BigLiftsITA]

No you actually always taste electrons but they taste differently depending on which nerve they come from

[@rainbowevil]

@@daphenomenalz4100 I know Steve said that in the video, but he never mentioned hydronium, so the channels could actually let hydronium through and Steve made a mistake. I think it’s likely the channels only let actual H+ ions through, but I’m not sure.

[@DavidMiller212]

Gordon Ramsay: "This bloody proton tastes sour!!!"

[@minus6025]

Would he rather have a proton that's not sour?

[@protokore9182]

Hey Steve another great video. Have you heard of magic fruit? Its a pill you can take that makes sour things taste sweet temporarily of course. Lemons taste like lemonade after, apparently. Would be worth a look to see how it works.

[@gownerjones]

Remember the sourness detectors he talked about in this video? They absorb particles that indicate whether or not something is acidic. The magic fruit contains a protein called miraculin which essentially acts as an adaptor between those acid particles and the sweetness receptor. The protein binds to the sweetness receptor and when in contact with acid, it changes shape in such a way as to activate the receptor. So anything sour now activates your sweetness receptors.

[@needamuffin]

When my psychology professor in college asked us how many senses we have, she was surprised when I said 22. I had just happened to have read a paper about it a few months earlier and the paper defined a sense as an external stimulus for which a *unique* cell or structure exists to detect. That word "unique" is what broke down the common 5 into the full 22 in much the same way you describe. Taste becomes multiple senses depending on the reception mechanism, touch becomes pressure and temperature (as well as, I want to say, 2 others that I can't remember). It even broke sight into color and light intensity because rods and cones are distinct cells that work with slightly different mechanisms.

[@pypeapple]

That’s interesting and I quite like that definition. I’d never considered light and color to be separate senses but it makes total sense.

[@mami42g]

the other 2 might be proprioception and pain. proprioception is the awareness of body's orientation in 3d space. but i'm not sure...

[@griffenrizzo7446]

protons taste mostly like up with a bit of down.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

You ever eat something and think "huh, this tastes strange"?

[@alakani]

@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 I ate a Higgs boson now I’m stuck in the stinky universe

[@dsdy1205]

I'm not sure I'd call 1/3 a little bit

[@ericstoverink6579]

Charming.

[@MT-pe8bh]

at least it doesn't taste like bottom

[@FrankLeeMadeere]

Steve has definitely kicked up the production value and entertainment factor this year and I'm loving it. For part two, I hope hot spicy (capsaicin) is discussed.

[@graemefenwick6925]

yes please, a vid on capsaicin would be interesting

[@Nosirrbro]

If I recall correctly spicy tastes come from whenever you eat something that is a (mild) neurotoxin, such as capsaicin or cinnamon, rather than any kind of additional taste bud. Though I suppose that begs the question then, is sarin spicy?

[@killerbee.13]

Capsaicin actually binds to thermoreceptors, not chemoreceptors. It's not a taste, it literally just makes your mouth feel hotter (which is why it can affect other mucous membranes and even skin).

[@arielshatz6876]

@@Nosirrbro nicotine is definitely spicy

[@phyphor]

@@killerbee.13 and mint triggers things feeling cold. Feeling hot and feeling cold are two distinct sets of senses, so you can feel both hot and cold together.

[@banisan2035]

Hey, a genuine curious question here: I've been tought both in school and some chemistry lectures, that acidity isn't technically due to H+ ions in solution. But rather, these H+ ions bind to a water molecule, to form a Hydronium- or Oxonium-Ion H3O+. Would that mean that our taste-receptors aren't actually tasting protons (which would be really cool tbh), but rather just another molecule?

[@maxime3648]

Same question here

[@maxime3648]

Maybe the channel only allows the H+ ion to pass through it and keep the H2O out ? I really don't know

[@suspicaxrohde2310]

Hey! I just have a Bachelor's in Chemistry-Biology, but I figured I'd take a crack at this question. This is a topic that is pretty central to biochemistry, so if you ever take a college level class in that, you'll learn about this in more detail. Basically, proton pumps are a special case. Most ion pumps (e.g. for Sodium, Calcium, etc.) are just a tube that the ion passes through. Proton pumps actually work by responding to acidity on one side of the membrane and inducing acidity on the other side. The part of the protein facing outside of the cell interacts with the hydrogen ions and changes its shape slightly, causing knock-on effects (conformational changes) that cause hydrogen ions to be released on the other side. If you were to follow a Sodium ion through a Sodium channel (epithelial sodium channel specifically), it would basically just be passed along a tube by various amino acids. However, an individual Hydrogen ion passing through a proton pump (otopetrin specifically) might stop somewhere within the membrane and a completely different hydrogen ion gets released within the cell. When the acidity resolves, the protein would get "reset" so that it's ready to react again to future acidity.

[@banisan2035]

@@suspicaxrohde2310 Damn, it's genuinely amazing just how well science lets us imagine some minute details of everyday life. Thank you for your explanation!

[@SKyrim190]

@@suspicaxrohde2310 So would that hydrogen ion that was recently released inside the cell membrane bind to some water molecule floating around? By the way, thank you for the explanation. The subject was worthy of a video on it own

[@samerrichany2819]

This is the kind of question that I never knew I needed the answer to

[@ziquaftynny9285]

need? 🤨

[@livinlicious]

Havent watched the video, but any Proton is a H+ and H+ are what defines Acids. Meaning thats what your tongue actually think is "sour".

[@jordansorenson698]

I knew I needed to know the answer to this, but I never took the time to learn.

[@TheSpacecraftX]

My favourite sense is proprioception. The ability to sense where your body parts are in 3D space.

[@Karatechoppenguin]

Hello brother skelital

[@ryanmalin]

Helps in vr when you can't see your body

[@Thewolfobsessedgamer]

In VR there is similar sense or side effect of that is affectionately known as "phantom touch" or "phantom sense"

[@minnymoon1360]

Is that the same thing as if I’m laying on the couch and it feels like my legs are floating or arn’t there ?

[@thetruthexperiment]

Often overlooked in these kind of presentations. They say we only see in 2 dimensions and only perceive three dimensions when in fact we can touch and feel every side of a baseball with no problem.

[@HienNguyenHMN]

Plants: evolve poisons to avoid being eaten Humans: mm, delicious bitterness (coffee, broccoli...)

[@Call-me-Al]

Quinine. Tonic tastes like bitter deliciousness. Whatever is bitter in grapefruits is delicious too. But these two taste good in the gut more of. Not that I can taste there, it just feels good to have consumed it and thus I find the flavour extremely rewarding.

[@daniel_bohrer]

Humans: cultivate those plants and thereby preserve their genetic information Plants: woah, this turned out differently than expected

[@mattfleming86]

Not to mention the quadrillion dollar Hops industry.

[@hareecionelson5875]

@@mattfleming86 plants: Okay, yeah, this feels right and it feels familiar

[@joshyoung1440]

You can always tell who's a normie/straightedge, because for a certain amount of the population, when we think of bitter stuff we put in our bodies, our minds go directly to a couple of choice powders... I mean who the hell thinks broccoli is *bitter???* Y'all should try some delicious post-nasal drip then come and say broccoli is bitter lol

[@Br3ttM]

The multiple flavors in your sense of taste are like the multiple colors in your sense of vision, just somewhat more different. You could also think of feeling heat and pressure as different components of the sense of touch. The angular movement/acceleration of your inner ear is definitely separate from hearing, though, and somewhere in between telling you about internal and external factors.

[@gabemckelvey6779]

This is super interesting, could you do one about smell as well? There's a lot of videos on KZbin about the different taste receptors, but almost none about the olfactory ones that I've seen.

[@johnchessant3012]

Protons taste sour, but a specific arrangement of 11 protons, 12 neutrons, and 10 electrons taste salty.

[@daphenomenalz4100]

Lol yeah

[@johannesvahlkvist]

Something something its all just quarks anyway

[@Kokurorokuko]

it's all in our brains anyway

[@RonWolfHowl]

@@johannesvahlkvist XD

[@SahilP2648]

@@johannesvahlkvist something something quarks is something something anyways. But quarks to something something something something. Something something something something something.... something something... something. Something!

[@ArturdeSousaRocha]

From now on I will call pickles "protonic cucumbers" and Sauerkraut "protonic cabbage". 😆

[@redchief94]

Yes!

[@silvanogonzalez2971]

Cucumber ions

[@TheSentientCloud]

Could you imagine this being the next woo craze? "Protonized Water" (aka slightly acidic water) enhanced with protons for performance effect (it's an overpriced sports drink with electrolytes)

[@ArturdeSousaRocha]

@@TheSentientCloud After seeing beauty creams with liposomes etc. I in fact can.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

The word "sour" is so old-fashioned.

[@pratikgizmo6436]

its amazing how he just shaved while talking about salt at 4:39

[@benedictifye]

Impressive, most impressive…

[@mienzillaz]

.. and rested..:)

[@pierfrancescopeperoni]

He did just the usual shaving break. More probably, since he is still not shaved in the rest of the video, he finished the video, went to shaving, and while shaving he realized "Shit, I forgot something", and filmed that part.

[@christianlingurar7085]

but the shave held only for 2:25 minutes :-)

[@rcolorado2364]

Amazing edit too, it was mid-sentence.

[@n1elkyfan]

This is really interesting and helps explain something I experienced when I had covid. I lost most of my sense of taste. I could still taste salty and acidic. Actually blueberries where interesting to because I never realized that they where acidic

[@PortalJumper5]

I like the vibes of this video, it answers the question while posing more questions and answering all of them. Not unlike your other videos; this one just feels more full

[@eccentricOrange]

We really need to appreciate all the takes he did to visualize the individual tastes, protecting the plant and whatnot! Loved it, and accidentally learnt a lot. Thanks Steve!

[@jimbrittain402]

"WE know when something is hot..." Well, THAT was terrifying.

[@Milamberinx]

Because it was so hot, right?

[@Maazin5]

If I saw that in a stock footage library, I would do everything possible to work it into a video

[@pvic6959]

@@Maazin5 ok yes, but what were they thinking when they MADE that LOLOL

[@mwgondim]

Came here for this comment.

[@yetinother]

I saw these comments before I got to the @8:02 point in the video, it makes much more sense to watch the video and Then read the comments in this case.

[@aiterusawato]

Ah yes, subatomic gastronomy.

[@dextercruise7026]

When you think of a proton as an h+ anion it makes more sense

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Guaranteed to win you a Michelin star.

[@erikh8685]

I love all the quick takes and little extra shots in this video

[@HT-vd4in]

Wow this video is awesome: Great information, great pacing, great depth, great quality! Keep up the brilliant work Steve!

[@HT-vd4in]

And also a great thumbnail and catchy title! I already learned most of this, but this video gave me a new perspective and reiterated my knowledge

[@MedlifeCrisis]

❤️ Mould bae ❤️

[@pedrosmith221]

Protons probably taste like chicken.

[@polo-wv2gs]

Can we have a Mouldlife crisis vid pls

[@Noxelius]

While you are here, Med-bae, why do people take potassium salt for their heart and blood pressure? I mean, how does that work? A friend uses a mix of normal sodium chloride and potassium chloride on their food. Also I wonder if that should taste less salty then... Full collab with Steve? :)

[@Bibibosh]

If mould is so bad. Then why do they even put it in the bread in the first place. Seams like the government is working with the bakers to deliberately poisoning the public with bread that goes mouldy .

[@zyansheep]

@@pedrosmith221 everything taste like chicken. Including chicken!

[@TusharGoyal1997]

Never realised how much I needed a Steve Mould Salt Bae!

[@oldvlognewtricks]

You warned me, and I still wasn’t ready.

[@PierreBezemer]

Imagine opening your physics exam and reading the question: "What do protons taste like?" Luckily I can answer that question now

[@hannahk1306]

It could also arguably come under chemistry or biology 🤔

[@benrawles5356]

Absolutely love your videos! You take explaining and entertaining to a whole new level. Hope to see you in a live show when things start opening up! 🥳

[@rikspapens9219]

It isn't true, hydrogen ions or protons aren't free in solution in water. It reacts basically instantly with water to form a H3O+ ion. The reason for this is that a proton has a high concentration of positive charge (obviously) and the oxygen atom in water has two free orbitals, or regions with a slight local negative charge, they attract and form H3O+. However it is often simplified to H+ to make chemical reactions easier to understand.

[@mervstar]

2:19 Cool, I'd like to know more about these deceptive plants, sounds interesting. 10:06 You're covering this in a separate video after getting my hopes up? I guess you're the deceptive plant Steve!

[@bichengwu5095]

Awesome video as usual Steve, love the extra research and visuals you put into this, and thanks for the shoutout! :D

[@damagedtalent]

The quick thermal version of yourself was amazing thank you and thank you for doing all these videos.

[@andymcl92]

Proprioception is another good sense too, although it sort of bridges the gap between internal and external. It's how you know where your arm is without looking, for example, and also plays in to our sense of balance. It's a mix of muscle stretching, touch, and vestibular, so it's sort of the next tier of sensing.

[@PJoriginal]

Props to you tasting a spoonful of everything Edit: I spoke too soon. Props to you tasting a spoonful of the first three

[@ValentineC137]

Props to him for taking a spoonful of salt for us

[@fewwiggle]

It would have been really cool if he had tried a spoonful of gravity..... :-)

[@comlitbeta7532]

"Dont! It is consentrated essense of soure! "Dont worry jimmy they didnt invent somthing that is too soure fot The Shin *big sip*

[@masheroz]

Tried eating a spoonful of citric acid. Once.

[@lanceanthony198]

“We have taste receptors in our urinary tract” Hold up.. let me try something

[@mpbx3003]

Zero-to-ten, how much pain are you currently in?

[@johannesvahlkvist]

You should try putting hot sauce up there. You would *definitely* be able to detect that

[@Garbaz]

They aren't connected the same way to your brain as the ones on your tongue, so you don't "taste" anything in a normal sense (same with the ones in your guts), they are just the same receptor used for non-conscious biological functions.

[@mpbx3003]

@@Garbaz Thank you for replying to the very serious comment with the appropriate very serious tone.

[@DoubsGaming]

@@mpbx3003 hey man this is a science channel not a comedy one (not that you can't make jokes), but people like me actually want a explanation of why this is so I think it was appropriately informative.

[@KriegAdler09]

Explain the “taste” of low voltage (let’s say

[@cinamontoast2555]

Yeag like a metal feeling

[@vsevolodyeroshenko1149]

I believe it is rather a taste of electrolysis products created from a current.

[@Jordan_C_Wilde]

Probably a mixture of the electrodes dissolving in electrolysis from your saliva. A fun experiment would be if it tastes different depending on what wire material you use, copper, aluminum, iron, etc.

[@CuriousDoc]

Very well explained! Also don't forget my favourite sense, proprioception, which allows us to feel where our body is in 3D space without needing to look at them! BTW, 8:02 made me literally say WTF

[@YourCrazyOverlord]

This is one of the most engaging videos yet. Steve really is the best at what he does

[@matej_grega]

1 MILLION LET'S GO STEVE YOU DID IT!

[@jeojavi]

9:20 HELP ME 😂👏 the funniest thing I've seen today 😂👏

[@itsrachelfish]

Dang bro have you ever tried memes

[@MrPooPooJohn]

I had a pretty bad concussion years ago that altered the way things taste and smell for me. I used to hate sour foods. Now I can barely notice them. Also most flowers smell horrible to me now. There are other minor things too but I think I've just gotten used to it that this is the new normal.

[@tanelehala6422]

hyposmia / parosmia :( I've experienced temporary anosmia with Covid, had no idea how important the sense was before that and how most of the "flavour" of food comes from not the "taste" by tongue but by smell by the nose.

[@imaner76]

@8:01... I laughed way to hard at this. I'm still ashamed of it.

[@chriss5266]

00:38 Steve, you're killing me! Love your content, love your explanations, and love your humor!

[@alptekinakturk4185]

Right sharp questions. Thank you Steve, you make me love science,

[@riuphane]

My lunch simultaneously got more bland and more exciting with this video. Thank you for always keeping me both entertained and educated about fascinating things I forget to be interested in

[@electronmess]

MSG sits in my cupboard and is one of my best friends. I'm so glad I found it in my local Korean shop.

[@kevinocta9716]

Ah so THAT's why when you stick a 9 volt battery on your tongue it taste's sour-ish! (Because you're essentially tasting positive charges (among other things)).

[@VictorGnoato]

i wonder if it's that or the actual products of the electrolysis of saliva are sour

[@zazethe6553]

No, a battery moves negative charge, or electrons. Positive electricity does not exist.

[@kevinocta9716]

@@zazethe6553 That's not the whole picture. It's true that electrons generate negative charges, and electrons are moving in a circuit. But really electrons only move about an inch a minute in a circuit, and what's really moving near the speed of light are the charges or charge differential, otherwise electricity would be slow! If you imagine a chain of single atoms with a blue negative charge circle around it and a red positive charge around it, if the system is stationary and in equilibrium, both charges just sit around their atoms completely overlapping (they would be purple in this example). If you start moving the only blue circles for example, you realize that they are simultaneously uncovering the red circles are they move off from the perfect overlap. It's kind of like cutting a bar magnet in half- you don't cut it into a north mono-pole and a south mono-pole, you just make both north and south by cutting it. In summary, if the circuit is moving you've got positive and negative charges everywhere in the wire, and I think you'd be able to taste these positive charges.

[@kevinocta9716]

@@VictorGnoato could be!

[@jonathanodude6660]

electrolysis breaks water into hydrogen and oxygen, also will change the properties of proteins. dying taste buds and direct nerve stimulation could also play a role.

[@jfbaezv]

Oh my god!!!!!!, I'm a chemist, I kind of knew about these things, but the way in which you explain them is amazing!!!!

[@cerwe8861]

That blew my mind. I never thought about that.

[@tau9632]

Someone correct me but isn't it against intergalactic law to have free protons in (most cases in) biology? Doesn't it recombine with water to form a hydronium ion H30+ ?

[@cadenorris4009]

The autoionization of water is very very very rare. The Kw is something like 1x10^-14 .

[@johannesvahlkvist]

is it? i mean, there are a few places where free protons are definitely required, like the electron transport chain, the oxidative phosphorylation, and anything else that involves pumping H+ across membranes

[@johannesvahlkvist]

@@cadenorris4009 he's just talking about different ways to model the same thing. H3O+ is, for all intents and purposes, the same as H+ in an aqueous solution.

[@benedictifye]

“Under Article number one-hundred eighty-four of your “Interstellar Law”, I’m placing you under arrest. You are charged with assassinating the Chancellor of the High Council.”

[@tau9632]

@@johannesvahlkvist I don't think its about abstract 'modelling' of it - either there is a subatomic particle in isolation and *that* is what your receptors respond to, or they repond to a ion made out of 4 atoms... a pretty big and real difference don't you think?

[@markhorstmeier8734]

Came for the physics, stayed for the MSG myth busting.

[@andyrharris]

4:37 is the fastest beard trim I've ever seen.

[@donamills]

Your video production quality has REALLY gotten good. Right on!

[@kukukachu]

9:44 I think you nailed it right there. Senses are about what you are aware of. The 6th sense actually exists as well: Intuition, when you just know a thing. That one is a little bit more complicated though because we do not understand why we just know sometimes and also, we don't quite understand how to listen to intuition at times.

[@mjames7674]

I can't wait until someone comes out with an "Essence of Chinese Food" flavored vape juice.

[@iseriver3982]

Just what we need, more dead bat's and sharks...

[@MayaSharky]

MSG flavoured e-juice? Not gonna lie, I'd try it. xD

[@scoapproductions]

ew

[@jeremyh9033]

@@MayaSharky might wanna try straight msg first... It's not very appetizing by itself. 😂

[@huraqan3761]

Just inject MSG straight into your eyeball, it'll get you way higher than nicotine

[@tfsplayer2275]

Can we appreciate that this guy just ate a spoon full of salt...

[@itsrachelfish]

And then spit it out... cause that much salt is seriously bad for you xD

[@tfsplayer2275]

@@itsrachelfish 😂

[@JJean64]

Probably just sugar and he is faking it

[@BM-jy6cb]

"I'll tell you about that later" - only to say at the end it's in an upcoming video, so make sure you subscribe. Ooooh. Steve, you tease!

[@NS-YT1]

Great video Steve! The title caused me to pass it by for a while, but then I realized you typically don’t make dumb videos (which is why I’m subscribed!)…..and I’m so glad I watched it…really good stuff lately…keep it up!

[@marcus8036]

Was just trying to learn more about the process of taste a few days ago and really couldn’t find anything useful online. Thank you for putting my mind at ease with this great video 😅

[@arthurvlog6259]

Hey Steve! Please look into how olfaction participates in sense of taste and "Vibration theory of olfaction" by Malcolm Dyson, opposing the outdated "docking theory of olfaction". Can you tell the difference in taste between potato and apple without being able to smell it first. Can you even taste anything at all without sense of smell?

[@karlsjostedt8415]

Lock and key is not how taste works. Molecules that have the same shapes do not taste the same and molecules with different shapes can taste the same... Back in the 1990s we figured out that there is a quantum effect involved in taste and smell. The natural harmonic frequency of the molecule determines how it smells or tastes. This was tested by finding random molecules that vibrate at the same natural frequency as a known molecule and it turns out they smell the same as the theory suggested they would. On the flip-side they tried molecules that could fit into the same receptors but had different natural frequencies and found they smelled different...

[@gabor6259]

thnderf00t: What do electrons look like? Steve Mould: What do protons taste like?

[@stephendavidcampbell]

Another fascinating and hilarious video. I think I've now developed a specific "watching Steve Mould video" face: thoughtful, quizzical and always on the verge of laughing 😂. I did have one additional thought here though about MSG. My objection to, and general avoidance of, MSG especially in foods that don't actually have protein in them (like potato chips),is that it's tricking your body into eating stuff (esp carbs) you otherwise would stop eating. That's all!

[@zachj61]

Good video. Finally someone else talking about how similar taste and smell are while simultaneously splitting up the different taste senses AND discussing other senses... Didnt mention things like menthol and spice, but no worries. Id probably just keep all of them as senses, then subcategorize them. Its pretty obvious that the taste senses are similar, even if distinct. What about pressure differences? Different types of touches are detected differently too (like with tastes). Do we have a way to detect if theres different kinds of electromagnetism around, other than the heat it generates? Ive no idea... Does pain count as a sense, since thats detecting an externality?

[@jpedrosc98]

What gives charged batteries their distinct "taste" when connected to our tongues?

[@andonel]

I wanna hear the word “action potential” more! XD

[@xMorogothx]

Action potential

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Easily my favorite vocabulary term from psychology class.

[@funkdefied1]

Sour taste buds detected acidic conditions. Fun fact: the Spanish word for “acidic” and for “sour” are both ácido.

[@sambishara9300]

I think most languages would have the same word or very similar words for acidic and sour since it is in Arabic.

[@matheuspaesdesouza]

For Portuguese too, but it also has "azedo" for sour, which is more common.

[@fakinyamo]

Sour is "Agrio" in Spanish

[@jpietersen519]

Dutch uses "zuur" for both acid and sour. It obviously has the same origin as English "sour". Classic English choosing a foreign word for acid, though.

[@GG-yo2tg]

@@jpietersen519 germans use "sauer" for both too

[@rkond]

The smell receptors are not lock and key as was recently found. It’s more about how vibrational modes change. And it’s not 1 receptor per molecule.

[@erraticToaster92]

Great presentation! For senses there are also proprioception, and pain perception. (Something like 10 senses in all, but it is hard to define)

[@spodefollower]

My guess before watching is that they taste sour. Acids taste sour, and they have an abundance of H+ ions which are basically just protons, right?

[@AlanDong]

How do KCl and MgCl2 factor into saltiness reception? I've heard that they taste different from NaCl.

[@MrTmb64]

The salty taste comes from Na+ ionic canals from what I learned in Human physiology. Which is why I would be tempted to think KCl and MgCl2 wouldn't taste salty. I've heard the opposite though, so maybe there's more to the answer

[@Ninterd2]

@@MrTmb64 Doesn't chlorinated water taste salty?

[@bjh3612]

i dont know the full answer, but i do k ow that our bodies need sodium (Na), potassium(k), magnesium(mg), and iron( fe)for most metalloprotein or ion based interaction. as they are essential to our aurvival it would make sense why we can taste them. also all of those creat positively charged ions which still interact with receptors on the cell.

[@TheNobsal]

@@Ninterd2 that's because it's Chlorinated with Sodium Hypochlorite, which intern breaks down to Sodium Chloride aka table salt

[@ljbdoa]

As far as I know, K+ interacts with the same Na+ receptors, but not as strongly, and that's why it doesn't taste exactly the same (and also leave a matallic aftertaste). Li+ interacts even better than Na+, and that's why it was used for a while as a salt replacement, but it presents some toxicity (to the kidney, if I remember correctly) and that's why it was discontinued to that purpose. As for Mg2+, I've never heard about it tasting salty, but actually bitter. I don't know how they work with the taste receptors.

[@gustavos.g.5785]

Saying that someone has chemoperception makes me feel like it is a super power........I freaking love it

[@BrightBlueJim]

Super! One thing, though: if you're going to separate taste into separate senses, then you might also want to split vision into at least four senses, since the receptors are separate for red, green, blue, and overall intensity. And don't let's get started with hearing, which not only senses many, many, MANY different distinct wavelengths, but also the phase difference between the left and right ears for any of those wavelengths. So probably we have either one sense, or thousands, depending. By the way, I correctly guessed the answer to the question in the title. I had no idea about bitter, though - I thought it was just a detector of bases. I've argued in the past that sweet is not at all the opposite of sour, but now I have to stop claiming that bitter is the opposite of sour. I really had no idea.

[@DharmeshPatelPHP]

You are doing great service, keep it up.. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge.

[@571lama]

Wait how come I love coffee then. . .

[@TymonScott]

I vote we officially recognize spiciness as the sixth taste - sensed when capsaicin (etc) activate the pain receptors

[@Kukkakukko]

I've always said that life tastes a little sour to me.

[@MrScorpianwarrior]

Well if sour taste is composed of protons, that is a very positive outlook!

[@Kukkakukko]

@@MrScorpianwarrior lmao

[@theskinegg9168]

How I see it, if you can't sense 2 things at once, then they're the same sense. For example, you can't see the colors blue and red a the same time without it changing to magenta. Conversely, you can taste sourness and see magenta at the same time, so taste and sight are different, while red detention and blue detection are not

[@fmaion]

Amazing @SteveMould!! I was talking about the last of protons to my son today!!! He drunk the old water from a bottle and said "It is ok, a little bit sour, why?" I said that probably some kind of living thing changed the pH of the water. Why? Probably something is making more H+ in the water. Why? I don't know it is creating more H+ (acid). But H+ is proton! This was an epiphany when I realised this with him today!! Cool video! I wish I had this video with Portuguese audio to show him!

[@arunbupathy]

Steve: The answer to, "how many senses do we have?" is, "it depends." Me: That's NaN!

[@arkadryan7484]

Steve: "We know when something is hot" Me: "ABORT ... ABORT MISSION ... "

[@thenotsomadhatter4291]

If you sense the presence of sodium to taste salt, why does sodium-free salt (potassium chloride) taste salty?

[@askemervigbahnson333]

Rule number one i biology: The body is always more complex than the model, no matter the model.

[@SuperCityscan]

Senses, I recognise them: Sight Hearing Smell Taste Gravitational orientation Force (by skin and muscles) Texture of surfaces Temperature Atmospheric pressure changes (headache) Generic harm (causes pain, but isn't any of above and comes from the outside) I could have included arguable senses that tell information about our digestive system or the orientation of our body parts.

[@onyxtay7246]

Interoception is a sense. It sorta bundles up taste, hunger, and all the other internal senses, but it's still important. Awareness of these internal senses can differ from person to person. It's part of why one person may never feel hungry, or the time between knowing they need to use the bathroom and really _needing_ to use it may be very short. Understanding this is important on a personal and interpersonal level - recognizing that one person's internal experience, even with something as simple as feeling hunger, can be very different from another's.

[@Zerogwastaken]

Seems really inconvenient how we detect the danger just as it's about to enter our body

[@WanderTheNomad]

A small amount is fine as long as it doesn't kill us. Afterall, it's the dosage that kills.

[@PopeGoliath]

That's what smell and spitting are for! Also, vomiting!

[@tubefordays]

@@WanderTheNomad The dose, duration, AND frequency of exposure ;)

[@QuantenMagier]

Mould: "We do something for plants and get nothing in return!" Photosynthesis: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@jordanlewis4308]

Booooooo 👎🏻

[@MandrakeFernflower]

Sour

[@philiptclark23]

By that philosophical standing should our sight be split up into what the different rods and cones can detect? Lobe the video Steve keep up the good work!

[@davidgustavsson4000]

The plant that tricks is into helping it is any esthetic cultivated plant (and, depending on your definition, any cultivated plant).

[@moorejl57]

And here I thought that protons were going to taste like chicken.

[@Guardian_Arias]

The machines know very well how a proton tastes so it makes sense they have been able to program a specific taste into the simulation.

[@iseriver3982]

Take away sight and smell and people think they're eating apples when they are actually eating potatoes. Our senses are weird!

[@cerberaodollam]

I wonder if that could work with me because those things absolutely FUCK my eyes. Even the mild shallot things that people barely notice when cooking with them.

[@GhastlyDerp]

Citation needed. My apples are immediately sweet and are not spicy.

[@johannesvahlkvist]

i'm guessing you need to blend it aswell though right? i feel like i would be able to tell from texture

[@iseriver3982]

Sorry guys, it's potato mistaken for apple! R weiler 'olfaction and taste' 1999 Will edit my comment

[@cerberaodollam]

@@iseriver3982 makes sense why the Dutch call them ground apples lol

[@recurvestickerdragon]

Steve: 3:07 Me: "amogus" ... Damn, the internet's ruined me.

[@yourXface1000]

very excited to learn more about taste receptors in the gut! love your videos

[@MidasMakeItRain]

It bares remembering that beyond the basic taste senses on the tongue, a large part of taste is the volatile organic compounds that drift into the nasal cavity and interact with the olfactory organs. So combining taste and smell into one under the banner chemoreception wouldn't be inaccurate.