what is the difference between how taste and smell are detected? Taste and smell are both chemical processes


  ... parts of the food dissolved in saliva come into contact with the taste receptors.[1] These are located on top of the taste receptor cells that constitute the taste buds. The taste receptor cells send information detected by clusters of various receptors and ion channels to the gustatory areas of the brain via the seventh, ninth and tenth cranial nerves. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste_bud)


, is there any difference in the way taste and smell receptors work?
Taste receptors work with water (or saliva, or whatever other liquid that happens to occur in your mouth) and the things dissolved therein.

Smell receptors work with air and airborne chemicals.

Short of that, they are similar in that both are wide-range chemical sensors, and different in that they send different signals to our brain.