Facts On
Farts
Where does fart gas come from?
The gas in our
intestines comes from several sources: air we swallow, gas seeping into our
intestines from our blood, gas produced by chemical reactions in our guts, and
gas produced by bacteria living in our guts.
What is fart gas made of?
The composition of fart
gas is highly variable.
Most of the air we swallow,
especially the oxygen component, is absorbed by the body before the gas gets
into the intestines. By the time the air reaches the large intestine, most of
what is left is nitrogen. Chemical reactions between stomach acid and intestinal
fluids may produce carbon dioxide, which is also a component of air and a
product of bacterial action. Bacteria also produce hydrogen and methane.
But the relative proportions
of these gases that emerge from our anal opening depend on several factors: what
we ate, how much air we swallowed, what kinds of bacteria we have in our
intestines, and how long we hold in the fart.
The longer a fart is held in,
the larger the proportion of boring, inert nitrogen it contains, because the
other gases tend to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the
intestine.
A nervous person who swallows
a lot of air and who moves stuff through his digestive system rapidly may have a
lot of oxygen in his farts, because his body didn't have time to absorb the
oxygen.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
offers the intriguing statement that some people's farts contain no methane. The
reason for this is apparently unknown. Some researchers suspect a genetic
influence, whereas others think the anomaly is due to environmental factors.
However, all methane in any farts comes from bacterial action and not from human
cells.
What makes farts stink?
The odor of farts comes
from small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas and mercaptans in the mixture. These
compounds contain sulfur. The more sulfur-rich your diet, the more sulfides and
mercaptans will be produced by the bacteria in your guts, and the more your
farts will stink. Foods such as cauliflower, eggs and meat are notorious for
producing smelly farts, whereas beans produce large amounts of not particularly
stinky farts.
Why do farts make noise?
The sounds are produced
by vibrations of the anal opening. Sounds depend on the velocity of expulsion of
the gas and the tightness of the sphincter muscles of the anus.
How much gas does a normal person pass per
day?
On average, a person
produces about half a liter of fart gas per day, distributed over an average of
about fourteen daily farts.
Whereas it may be difficult
for you to determine your daily flatus volume, you can certainly keep track of
your daily numerical fart count. You might try this as a science fair project:
Keep a journal of everything you eat and a count of your farts. You might make a
note of the potency of their odor as well. See if you can discover a
relationship between what you eat, how much you fart, and how much they smell.
How does a fart travel to the anus?
One may wonder why fart
gas travels downward toward the anus when gas has a lower density than liquids
and solids, and should therefore travel upwards.
The intestine squeezes its
contents toward the anus in a series of contractions, a process called
peristalsis. The process is stimulated by eating, which is why we often need to
poop and fart right after a meal. Peristalsis creates a zone of high
pressure, forcing all intestinal contents, gas included, to move towards a
region of lower pressure, which is toward the anus. Gas is more mobile than
other components, and small bubbles coalesce to from larger bubbles en route to
the exit. When peristalsis is not active, gas bubbles may begin to percolate
upwards again, but they won't get very far due to the complicated and convoluted
shape of the intestine. Furthermore, the anus is neither up nor down when a
person is lying down.
How long does it take fart gas to travel to someone
else's nose?
Fart travel time depends
on atmospheric conditions such as humidity, temperature and wind speed and
direction, the molecular weight of the fart particles, and the distance between
the fart transmitter and the fart receiver. Farts also disperse (spread out) as
they leave the source, and their potency diminishes with dilution. Generally, if
the fart is not detected within a few seconds, it will be too dilute for
perception and will be lost into the atmosphere forever.
Exceptional conditions exist
when the fart is released into a small enclosed area such as an elevator, a
small room, or a car. These conditions limit the amount of dilution possible,
and the fart may remain in a smellable concentration for a long period of time,
until it condenses on the walls.
Why is there a 13 to 20 second delay between
farting and the time it starts to smell?
Actually, the fart stinks
immediately upon emergence, but it takes several seconds for the odor to travel
to the farter's nostrils. If farts could travel at the speed of sound, we would
smell them almost instantly, at the same time we hear them.
Is it true that some people never fart?
No, not if they're
alive. People even fart shortly after death.
Do even movie stars fart?
Yes, of course. So do
grandmothers, priests, kings, presidents, opera singers, beauty queens, and
nuns. Even Yoda farts.
Do men fart more than women?
No, women fart just as
much as men. It's just that most men take more pride in it than most women.
There is a large variation among individuals in the amount of fart gas produced
per day, but the variation does not correlate with gender.
I have read that men fart more
often than women. If this is true, then women must be saving it up and
expelling more gas per fart than men do.
Do men's farts smell worse than women's farts?
Based on what I have
experienced of women's farts, all I can say is that I hope not.
At what time of day is a gentleman most likely to
fart?
A gentleman is mostly
likely to fart first thing in the morning, while in the bathroom. This is known
as "morning thunder," and if the gentleman gets good resonance, it can
be heard throughout the household.
Why are beans so notorious for making people fart?
Beans contain sugars
that we humans cannot digest. When these sugars reach our intestines, the
bacteria go wild, have a big feast, and make lots of gas!
Other notorious
fart-producing foods include corn, bell peppers, cabbage, milk, and raisins.
A friend of mine had a dog
who was exceptionally fond of apples and turnips. The dog would eat these things
and then get prodigious gas. A dog's digestive system is not equipped to handle
such vegetable matter, so the dog's bacteria worked overtime to produce
remarkable flatulence.
What things other than diet can make a person fart
more than usual?
People who swallow a
lot of air fart more than people who don't. This can be cured somewhat by
chewing with your mouth closed. Nervous people with fast moving bowels will fart
more because less air is absorbed out of the intestines. Some disease conditions
can cause excess flatulence. And going up in an airplane or other low-pressure
environment can cause the gas inside you to expand and emerge as flatulence.
Is a fart really just a burp that comes out the
wrong end?
No, a burp emerges from
the stomach and has a different chemical composition from a fart. Farts have
less atmospheric gas content and more bacterial gas content than burps.
Is it harmful to hold in farts?
There are differences in
opinion on this one. Certainly, people have believed for centuries that
retaining flatulence is bad for the health. Emperor Claudius even passed a law
legalizing farting at banquets out of concern for people's health. There
was a widespread belief that a person could be poisoned or catch a disease by
retaining farts.
Doctors I have spoken to
recently have told me that there is no particular harm in holding in farts.
Farts will not poison you; they are a natural component of your intestinal
contents. The worst thing that can happen is that you may get a stomach ache
from the gas pressure. But one doctor suggested that pathological distention of
the bowel could result if a person holds in farts too much.
How long would it be possible to not fart?
As I understand it, a
captive fart can escape as soon as the person relaxes. This means that a lot of
people who assiduously refrain from farting during the day do so at great length
as soon as they fall asleep. Having been on a great many overnight field trips,
long bus trips, and trans-Pacific flights, I can personally vouch for the fact
that lots of people do fart voluminously as they doze off. So the answer
to the question would be, you can refrain from farting as long as you can stay
awake!
Do all people fart in their sleep?
I have not made a
scientific study of this, but I don't think all people fart in their sleep. I
think mainly those who refuse to fart when they're awake do so when dozing off.
For other people, toilet training takes such a strong hold that they let nothing
pass their sphincters in sleep. For these people, the gas accumlates in the
night and they vent it upon awakening.
Where do farts go when you hold them in?
How often have you held in a
fart, intending to release it at the first appropriate opportunity, only to find
that the fart has disappeared when you are ready for it?
I asked several doctors where
the fart goes. Does it leak out slowly without the person knowing it? Is it
absorbed into the bloodstream? What happens to it?
The doctors agree that the
fart is neither released nor absorbed. It simply migrates back upward into the
intestine and comes out later.
It is reassuring to know that
such farts aren't really lost, just delayed.
How can one cover up a fart?
There is a company called
Fartypants that sells underwear designed to absorb the odor of farts. If you
should be caught without your Fartypants, another ploy is to blame the dog or
cat, if one should be present, or complain about how the wind must be blowing
from the direction of the paper mill.
As for the sound... if you
are in a large group of people, act oblivious and innocent, or glance quickly at
the person next to you, as if you think he/she did it. Other strategies include
coughing or suddenly moving your chair so that people think that they misheard
the fart. If you are with one other person, you can act as if nothing happened,
and the other person may believe he was mistaken in thinking he heard a fart.
CJT addresses the problem of
farting loudly in a public restroom as follows: "My solution: use a handful
of loose toilet paper, cover your butt hole and it will muffle the farting; my
friends and I call it the 'Buff Muff'!"
Depending upon the company,
another strategy is not to cover it up, but to proudly proclaim the fart as your
own grand accomplishment and to issue a challenge to the others to outdo that
one if they think they can.
Is it really possible to ignite farts?
The answer to that is
yes! However, you should be aware that people get injured igniting flatulence.
Not only can the flame back up into your colon, but your clothing or other
surroundings may catch on fire. A survey done by Fartcloud (the site, alas! is
not more) indicates that about a quarter of the people who ignited their farts
got burned doing it. Ignition of flatulence is a hazardous practice. There
have also been cases in which intestinal gases with a higher than normal oxygen
content have exploded during surgery when electric cautery was used by the
surgeon.
Why is possible to burn farts?
Farts burn because they
contain methane (usually) and hydrogen, both of which are flammable gases.
(Hydrogen was the same gas that was used in the ill fated Hindenburg dirigible.)
Farts tend to burn with a
blue or yellow flame.
Is it possible to light a match with a fart?
No, even strike-anywhere matches have their limits, unless the fart has the
consistency of sandpaper! Any fart that rough I would hesitate to call a
fart. Also, farts have the same temperature as the body from which they emerge,
and aren't hot enough to initiate combustion.