Essential Oil Factoids from Natural Health Crafters

Aroma Fade

Why does an essential oil lose its scent. The aroma of any substance is dependent on the volatile aroma producing chemicals in that substance, the volatility is a variable with temperature and chemical reactions to the air, as the aroma chemicals are given off, from the surface of the sample, to the air the sample becomes smaller, and the number of volatile chemicals becomes fewer until there are no volatile aroma chemicals remaining. The 'Top Notes' are given off first as they evaporate more easily (more volatile), followed by 'middle notes' and lastly 'bottom notes'.

Chemicals

Many people feel that if something contains 'chemicals' it must be bad. There is however no escaping the fact that every substance we encounter is made up of chemicals. Your favourite organically grown lavender oil is made up from a mixture of up to 300 different chemicals. Therefore, saying that an item is bad because it contains chemicals is nonsense. Also, some 'bad chemicals' are only bad in certain circumstances - nitro glycerin, can make a messy hole in the yard as an explosion, but can save a heart transplant patients life.

Volatility

The movement of gas particles is essential in aromatherapy. A substance must be constantly losing particles into a gas or vapour, which enter the air and then to the nose and be detacted as an odour. Volatility is the property of a substance to evaporate (disperse as vapour). If a few drops of essential oil, are poured onto a dish in a room, their presence will quickly be detectable at any point in the room. Oil vapour molecules mix and collide with air molecules, gradually spreading throughout the room, by the process of defusion.