Printed from smellbook.com/smells/chlorine-pool. This printout keeps the entry for Chlorine / Pool itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
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Also known as Swimming Pool · Pool Water
A sharp clean-pool association linked to treated water, indoor leisure spaces and learned expectation.
Pool water smells sharp, clean and faintly bleach-like, with a stinging edge that can feel bright or harsh depending on its strength. EDITORIAL
Named in the VERIFIED claims about this smell: not a list of what it is made of, and not its cause.
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Links SmellBook records for this entry: where you meet it, molecules and related smells. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors and VERIFIED links come from VERIFIED claims. Nothing here is a ranking, and a molecule is not presented as the cause of the smell.
QUESTIONS ABOUT CHLORINE / POOL
Pool water smells sharp, clean and faintly bleach-like, with a stinging edge that can feel bright or harsh depending on its strength. The smell is cool and watery in the open air and denser and heavier indoors. It clings to skin, hair and swimwear for hours after a swim. It is easily confused with cleaning products, though many people find it more linked with leisure.
People meet it at swimming pools, in changing rooms and leisure centres, and at hotel pools during holidays. Many people link it with summer, swimming lessons and childhood.
Typical settings: swimming pool, changing room, hotel pool.
SmellBook links it to one place page: see it in Connections.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: Trichloramine in the air of indoor pools. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
The scientific study behind this evidence is chemistry or emission work, not a study of how the smell is perceived.
One molecule is named in this claim; see the evidence for the role the claim gives it. The molecule this claim names has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell.
Pool smell is a culturally familiar place experience; the exact chemistry and intensity vary by water treatment and conditions.
Words that are easy to mix up: Is fresh the same as clean? and Is citrus a kind of fresh?
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
Trichloramine in the air of indoor pools
In the air of chlorinated indoor swimming pools, trichloramine, a volatile and irritant compound with a penetrating odour, forms as a disinfection by-product when chlorine reacts with nitrogen compounds; acid amides, especially urea, as well as ammonium ions and α-amino acids, were its most efficient precursors at acidic and neutral pH.
Formation chemistry and water-to-air transfer of trichloramine, studied experimentally and by calculation; it does not measure the air of a particular pool.
How this was found: Chemical composition. Compounds were identified or measured, without any assessment of their odour. Source: primary study; chemistry work.
Christina Schmalz, Fritz H. Frimmel & Christian Zwiener
DOI 10.1016/j.watres.2011.02.024Each molecule is named by the claim shown after it. This molecule has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell. About molecules in SmellBook
Links chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Chlorine / Pool.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
A state says how an entry is met, such as wet, aged or roasted. It does not create a new smell, and it adds no scientific fact by itself: states marked EDITORIAL come from the entry's own records, and only those marked VERIFIED are reported by a VERIFIED claim.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0024 — Chlorine / Poolsmellbook:smell:chlorine-poolhttps://smellbook.com/smells/chlorine-poolSmellBook. (2026). Chlorine / Pool (revision 4, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:chlorine-pool. https://smellbook.com/smells/chlorine-pool@misc{smellbook_chlorine_pool_r4,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Chlorine / Pool},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 4, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:chlorine-pool},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/chlorine-pool}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-chlorine-pool-r4 TI - Chlorine / Pool AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 4 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/chlorine-pool N1 - SB-0024; smellbook:smell:chlorine-pool; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/chlorine-pool ER -
The citation names revision 4 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Pool smell is a culturally familiar place experience; the exact chemistry and intensity vary by water treatment and conditions.
Other entries whose editors linked to Chlorine / Pool:
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30.
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗