If you ’ve get a sweet tooth , your ear likely perk up whenever the word “ cake”pops up in mundane conversation . But if the bar in question hap to be aurinal cake , that ’s one conversation you — and your venter — might require to sit out .
Urinal cakes , more officially known as urinal deodorizer blocks , most definitely do not look delicious . As for taste ? While we can not respond that question with any firsthand authority , we can venture a pretty good conjecture as to why no one ’s eating them . But why do urinal involve these fancy accessories when other bathroom fixtures , like lavatory , do not ?
If the technological name did n’t give their purpose away , urinal deodorizer blocks are designed to set off the persistent scent of weewee that otherwise pervade public restrooms ( which have enough odor problems , thank you very much ) . Ultimately , it ’s pretty simple : urinal tend to collect a raft of water , and not all of it washes down the drain . All that residual urine can kick up quite a stink , which is where the cake occur in .
Thanks to the curious folks atSciShow , we now have a scientific breakdown of what precisely happens when urine sits around and why it becomes smelly . Urinal bar , which were traditionally made ofnaphthaleneand are now typically made withparadichlorobenzene — both of them chemical used to make mothball — are designed to overpower and pluck up the smells give rise by all that urine that does n’t finish up down the waste pipe . regrettably , those chemical substance might be carcinogenic , so while it ’s absolutely okay to pee on them , please do n’t slit yourself a delicious man of urinal cake .
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A version of this story ran in 2016 ; it has been updated for 2023 .
