Why do some metals smell?

Question

I just want to know why some metal smells and what ever touches it smells like metal. I don't need a college report, but I don't want a one sentence answer

Answer 1

Believe it or not, this topic is actually fairly complex.  For ages, people thought it was the metal or a metal compound that was responsible for the odor.  However, it was recently discovered that the compounds responsible for the smell are entirely organic and do not contain metals.  The exact details of how these compounds form are not known, but it is thought that the metals catalyze their formation from compounds on the skin.