It's day 10 of the NewScientistAdventCalendar, where we bring you a daily dose of festive fun! What's in a fart? Are some foods fartier than others? The most insidious consequences of the festive meal are a lot more interesting than you think...
. These gases are mainly nitrogen and oxygen. The remainder, produced by gut bacteria, is mostly hydrogen, along with carbon dioxide and methane.As in any perfume, the aroma comes from tiny quantities of pungent molecules. Flatulence guru Michael Levitt at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, has traced its noxiousness to, which together account for less than 1 part in 10,000 of an expulsion of wind.
By contrast, low volume and pressure give rise to a more discreet trump. But is it more noxious? Perhaps. Levitt found that women’s flatus contained significantly more pungent hydrogen sulphide than men’s, and hisWomen also tend to produce less flatus than men, perhaps because of suppression – suggesting they are also more likely to control the pressure of their emissions to avoid drawing attention. This logic hints that a fart’s bark may indeed be inversely correlated with its bite.
Methane, otherwise known as natural gas, is odourless and highly combustible. In fact, at concentrations above 4 or 5 per cent, it is explosive, so it’s fortunate that the act of passing wind mixes it with air, diluting the methane to safe levels. Place a match close enough to the source, however, and the seemingly innocuous flatus of an “inflammable” can be made to ignite.Every day, your gut generates a whopping 20 litres or more of gas.
In any case, the experts agree that for most of us, flatus is nothing to worry about – a “blessing in disguise” that indicates you have healthy gut bacteria. Besides, is there a better butt for a joke than a fart?
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