• Question: Why is it that when we sniff black pepper, we want to sneeze?

    Asked by faithangel143 to Will, Amy, Sarah on 19 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by ellie123, anon-22966, ciaragrimesxox.
    • Photo: Will Reynolds

      Will Reynolds answered on 19 Jun 2012:

      Hi Faithangel. Well the reason we sneeze is to get things out of our nose that shouldn’t be there like dust, a virus, hair, pollen etc. and stop it getting to our lungs. Pepper in particular makes us sneeze a lot because when it is ground up it makes a very fine powder which can easily get into there air and hence into our nose when we sniff it. Add to this the fact that pepper has a very fragrant spicy smell and you only need a little bit to get into your nose for you to know about it! So your brain tells your body there is something in your nose that is very small, smells a lot and could be bad if it gets into your lungs and makes you sneeze to get it out.

      If you want to test this try sniffing whole peppercorns and then grinding them up and see what difference the size makes!

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