Help- I have a situation where I must create the odor of rotting garbage and human waste. No, this is not a joke, it is a paying job. (Not much, but a job). I need to cover an area about 100' x 100' for 5 seconds or so. I can launch a chemical into the air, fan out a powder, or? Any ideas are appreciated. Obviously it must be non-toxic and a MSDS available.

See the first two paragraphs of this article:
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Odour+bomb

I don't know what connections you might have to get your hands on such items, but hope it gives you a start.

RickJ- Thanks a lot. I might try to get the US Government approved stuff. Where to start I don't know but I will start. Thanks again. R.

Would rotten eggs smell work? It's nothing like rotting garbage and poop, but let me tell you it is NASTY and you can get it easy: It's ammonium sulfide in little glass ampules, like here.

Busting 50 or so of these at once would clear out an entire gymnasium.

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Originally Posted by rickj

Would rotten eggs smell work? It's nothing like rotting garbage and poop, but let me tell you it is NASTY and you can get it easy: It's ammonium sulfide in little glass ampules, like here.

Busting 50 or so of these at once would clear out an entire gymnasium.

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Ummmmm... please do NOT release sulfides into an audience!

Yes. Sulfides have been commonly produced in many gen chem lab all over the country for years as part of qualitative analysis experiments. Those chem labs also have fume hoods that exchange the air out several times an hour.

It is a poison. It can kill. It is what kills sewer workers. Your nose doesn't smell it so much after a few breaths.

You do this and you're opening yourself up for a lawsuit.

Thiols / mercaptans are a better choice.

Or look for a shop that does theatrical or magic...

I'm sure you can get some smelly ampules from commercial suppliers.

Just do not try to guess how much suilfide is OK. Its easy enough to make with a couple of household items, but just a bad idea in my mind.

I evacuated a chemistry lab once because the fume hoods died while running a "nine bottle" experiment... one of the tests for ammonia is to add a sulfide salt. In tiny quantities OK... but again, it gets hard to judge the concentration after a few breaths.

Gosh, I guess the laws need changed then. Those stink bombs are sold on every corner.

Granted, though, outdoor would be better as the stink would get in the hvac system of a building and take quite awhile to go away...

I'm not saying they haven't and aren't used.

I know its quite the smell from a very small amount, but I just think it's a bad idea to put out a chemical that can cause paralysis into a general audience unless you have great ventilation or can change out the air quickly.

There are a lot of things we used to do in chem labs even a decade ago that have been backed off for legal issues.

I don't know. We never use toluene in the undergrad teaching labs anymore either, but you can buy it at a hardware store no prob. So I wouldn't be surprised if people still use it.

And admittedly, the sewer danger is more of a "soda can" effect when larger quantities of the gas escape, or like the lake (was it south america) where it turned over and the gas asphyxiated a town...

So I'm probably overreacting. A tiny amount with a fan would probably work fine. Id just look for something commercial if possible.