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Asked by ixabdulxi to Andrew, Ben, Beth, Heather, Louisa on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
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Andrew McKinley answered on 16 Jun 2010:
The chemistry of a fart is massively variable, depending on what you have eaten. Oxygen, Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide are fairly large components, but there will occasionally also be Methane (CH4).
The problem is that these gases have no smell. So, what makes a really stinky fart?
The answer to that is in sulphur compounds, in particular a class of sulphur compound called Mercaptans. It is a type of mercaptan that is added to natural gas to give it that characteristic odour, but slight changes in the configuration of the mercaptan can give wide ranging differences in smell.
For those really really eggy ones though, it is Hydrogen Sulphide – H2S. The same gas sometimes comes out of catalytic converters in cars – so that is why you sometimes smell eggs when a car comes to a rest.
To avoid the smell, avoid sulphur rich foods, such as beans, cauliflower, eggs, meat!
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Beth Dyson answered on 16 Jun 2010:
The elements in fart are the same as most of the rest of you; there’s a lot of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. But if you want to know what makes it smell, it’s sulphur and nitrogen. There will be more of these elements if you have been eating protein rich food, like eggs, beans and meat.
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Louisa Chard answered on 16 Jun 2010:
Oxygen, nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen. Lots of things. The proportions depend on lots of things such as 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.
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Ben Still answered on 21 Jun 2010:
That is a very complicated answer I think, and dependent on many factors – such as what you have eaten recently! The main component of a fart is methane, but this is not the smelly bit as it’s an odourless gas. Methane is however a major greenhouse gas and farting cows play a large role in global warming.
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