My MC wakes up in a futuristic laboratory. I'm trying to do some research on sensory background setting. Its the first page of my book. I've read many different takes on smells. I vision it to be very clean, bright white & light everywhere. As for the smell should it be chlorine type of smell? would the air be different?
Depends on what they use the lab for. Is it a biology lab? Chemistry? Physics? A physics lab will probably smell of ozone from all the machinery, while a bio lab may smell of disinfectant. Chemistry-orientated labs tend to stink of whatever they've been making or testing recently.
It is a bio-lab, dealing with more genetic engineering. It takes place on a space station but the MC doesn't know this. How would you describe a disinfectant smell without saying disinfectant? It seems more telling.
This may be one of those moments when telling is fine Saying "He smelt bleach" May be preferable to saying "he sniffed the air, he could smell something chlorine based, was it cleaning fluid ?" If the latter takes the reader out of the action
I imagine you'd smell ozone. Most sensitive instruments don't get sterilized with chemicals, they get sterilized with UV light, which converts the O2 in the air into O3.
I used to work in a chemistry lab. Often there would be no smell unless someone had been cooking something gross in the fume hood. Other smells might be the acid-base wash that had just an off smell. I can't describe the smell in truth. It smelled like it should strip the paint markings right off the pyrex glassware, or eat straight through the large heavy duty orange gloves, but those never looked worse for wear. I've also done this...https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-molecular-genetics/hs-biotechnology/v/dna-cloning-and-recombinant-dna There wasn't any smell, though the lab seemed warmer than usual to me...
Quite interesting in the science aspect of it. The best I could visualize it, but I describe the environment as cold but very clean with almost a bleach and disinfectants intense smells like burning your nostrils. The MC wakes up in this setting.
I did think about getting into genetic engineering long ago but the process academic studies is quite stressful and long. I'm getting my degree in business admin/finance at the moment. The genetic engineering science has always been fascinating.
I would go with space station smell. From what I've heard it's quite unique and pervasive seeing as it's all recycled air and whatnot.
