Submitted by Protoflare t3_11ck5es in askscience
ECatPlay t1_ja8gcvv wrote
Reply to comment by smolgaybigcity in If the fuel that goes in car engines is extracted from hydrocarbons, which consist of only Hydrogen and Carbon, and those hydrocarbons react with Oxygen in the air (combustion reaction), to produce CO2 and H2O, why do we get a bad smell from car exhaust fumes if both gases are odorless? by Protoflare
I think you mean N2O4, which does indeed have an acrid odor. This is the dimer of NO2, and is in equilibrium with it, such that both species are present:
This is generally understood to be part of the mixture generically referred to as NOx. But point taken.
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