Can you smell electricity?

Not electricity itself, but you can smell its affects on the wiring,..burnt plastic smell, after a shortout. In the air, after a thundersorm with much lightning, you can smell a sweetish odor in the air. This is ozone (O3), which is abundant after a storm. The normal state of oxygen is O2, but for a brief time, electricity can create ozone in the air. It is harmless. It actually smells pretty good. It reverts back to O2 very soon, as it is very unstable.

1) "Franklin listed the following similarities between electricity and lightning:
- producing light of a similar color;
- rapid motion;
- being conducted by metals, water and ice;
- melting metals and igniting inflammable substances;
- "sulfurous" smell (which is now known to be due to ozone);
- magnetising needles;
- the similarity between St. Elmo's Fire and glow discharge."
Source and further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_electricity

"Ozone, the first allotrope of a chemical element to be recognized by science, was proposed as a distinct chemical compound by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1840, who named it after the Greek verb ozein (ὄζειν, "to smell"), from the peculiar odor in lightning storms."
Source and further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone

"Charging and operation of batteries typically results in the emission of hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur, which are naturally occurring and normally harmless if properly vented. Early Citicar owners discovered that, if not vented properly, unpleasant sulfur smells would leak into the cabin immediately after charging."
Source and further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle


2) "Electroreception, sometimes called electroception, is the biological ability to perceive electrical impulses. It is particularly common among aquatic creatures since salt water is a much more efficient conductor than air. It is used for electrolocation (detecting objects) and for electrocommunication. There are no known cases of mimicry involving electroreception, though it is theoretically possible."

"Many primitive fish such as sharks, rays, lampreys, bichirs, lungfish, coelacanths, and sturgeons have electroreceptive senses which are believed to be derived from the lateral line sense. This sense operates in two main modalities; active and passive."

"Active:
In active electroreception, the animal senses its surrounding environment by generating electric fields and detecting distortions in these fields using electroreceptor organs. Active electrolocation is especially important in murky water, where visibility is low.

Animals that use active electroreception include the weakly electric fish, which generate small (typically less than one volt) electrical pulses using an organ in the tail consisting of two to five rows of modified muscle cells (electrocytes).

Weakly electric fish can discriminate between objects with different resistance and capacitance values, which may help in identifying the object. They can also communicate by modulating the electrical waveform they generate; an ability known as electrocommunication.

Active electroreception typically has a range of about one body length, though objects with an electrical resistance similar to that of the surrounding water are nearly undetectable.

Passive:
In passive electroreception the animal senses the weak bioelectric fields generated by other animals. Animals that use passive electroreception include sharks and rays."

"The electric eel, besides its ability to generate high voltage electric shocks, uses lower voltage pulses for navigation and prey detection in its turbid habitat. This ability is shared with other Gymnotiformes.
Monotremes are the most prevalent mammals that use electroception. Among these, the platypus has the most acute sense. The platypus appears to use electroreception along with pressure sensors to determine the distance to prey from the delay between the arrival of electrical signals and pressure changes in the water."
Source and further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroreception

Yes. I remember being a small child and playing outside right before a thunderstorm. I could smell the ionic crisp breeze. It was wondrous.

Only when the wires are burning or maybe in an electrical thunderstorm.

Sure you can, it has a Metal/acidic smell to it, kinda like when you put a nine volt battery on your tongue, similar to that...At least that was my experience when I get shocked once by high voltage so maybe I was not in a clear state of mind at the time, who knows...

I can. It has a very odd smell, like nothing else. I can feel it, too, during a thunderstorm. I can feel it like in my muscles and brain. It's weird.

By itself, no, but you can smell the results of its action, the aforementioned ozone or burnt whatever if something overheats.

You can smell the electric power of Lightning when it burns the air.

You can smell a fuse flash but that i imagine is the burning of the wires etc.

Electricity itself does not smell.

Only if you grab a live wire...then you can.

No but you can smell the burning of material which through electricity flows..

In the same way you can smell different types of fire we can smell different types of electricity. Most materials emit smelly particle vapors whenever they receive energy and so we realize when electricity is the energy inside the materials we recognize. Ozone is the most famous, but consumer electronics emissions are probably the best known worldwide.

Yes... I smell overheating or burning electricity - Smells like an electric train set's transformer, or maybe an extra-hot electric cord.

I remember in 7th grade smelling it art class, looking up, and seeing one of the florescent lights smoking. I pointed it out to the teacher, we turned the lights out, and left the room. Obviously, she reported it, and it was fixed.

I believe I was told the smell is burning Ozone.

Yes, all what your brain can smell is the electric impulses coming from your nose's nerves :-P

No, but you can smell the carbon dioxide (I have no idea if it's carbon dioxide I just say random shit that could make sense to me) of something burning from electricity.

I won't be answer if i try that.

That is the type of molecules that are created by the electronic energy that is generated. This is a state of matter where electrons are ripped of the atoms, causing them to conduct electricity and give off light. This reaction creates ozone, but ozone is not what is really creating the majority of the smell. Much more of the smell is due to another gas produced in the plasma, a gas called nitric oxide. Once you have identified the smell, don't be surprised if you notice a similar smell after a thunderstorm. After all, a lightning bolt is a very big spark, which can produce a lot of plasma.

Nope but,you can smell it's effects.

You already did that for me :)

Nope.

No but you can taste it.

Unless something is burning or fried, I won't smell electricity but I certainly can feel it.

yes negative ions have a rainfall smell

No,I can't