The difference between smell and taste:

1, the distance is different: the sense of smell is a kind of telepathy, that is to say, the feeling of chemical stimulation from a distance. In contrast, taste is a sense of proximity.

2. Different distribution: The distribution of taste mainly includes the middle part of the tongue, the root of the tongue, the tip of the tongue and both sides of the tongue. The sense of smell mainly passes through the olfactory nerve, where it branches and distributes to the inner olfactory center and the outer olfactory center until it reaches the olfactory region of the brain.

3, the composition is different: the olfactory organ consists of two nasal cavities, the two nasal cavities communicate with the outside world through the nostrils, and there is a nasal septum in the middle. The mucosa on the surface of the nasal septum is connected with the mucosa covering the whole nasal cavity. The role of smell is to make people feel different smells.

Taste is mainly composed of taste cells and supporting cells. There are microvilli at the top of taste cells that extend in the direction of taste holes and contact with saliva, and nerve fibers are mainly at the base of the cells.

The connection between smell and taste;

Sensitivity of taste is closely related to sense of smell. When you lose your sense of smell, such as when you have a cold, you will eat nothing, which shows that fragrance and taste are inseparable. Taste and smell organs are two entrances and exits for our body to communicate with the external environment. Therefore, they shoulder certain vigilance tasks.

People's keen sense of smell can prevent harmful gases (gas bombs in war, liquefied petroleum gas ...) from entering the body. In terms of nutrition, according to the analytical activities of the analyzer and the coordinated activities of smell and taste, people's reactions to different foods are different.

Extended data:

Olfactory receptors are located at the top of the nasal cavity, called olfactory mucosa, where olfactory cells are stimulated by some volatile substances to produce nerve impulses, which are transmitted to the cerebral cortex along the olfactory nerve, causing smell. Their position is not the passage of breathing gas, but the protrusion of turbinate.

Smelly air can only contact the olfactory receptor in a swirling airflow, so turbinate hypertrophy caused by chronic rhinitis often affects the airflow to contact the olfactory receptor, leading to olfactory dysfunction. Smell is produced by the action of material particles emitted by objects in the air on sensory cells on the nasal cavity.

There is olfactory epithelium in the upper nasal passage, and the olfactory cells in the olfactory epithelium are the peripheral receptors of the olfactory organs. The mucous membrane surface of olfactory cells has cilia, which can contact with odorous substances.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-sense of smell

Baidu encyclopedia-taste