(plunking piano tones)
(fart)
- Alright, let's lower our brows for a minute
and admit it, farts are funny.
And, sometimes, they're a good business.
In fact, a guy in the 19th century named Le Pétomane,
(fart)
was able to amaze crowds at the Moulin Rouge
just by farting, he was a flatulist.
That's a thing.
But, farts aren't just funny, they're also fascinating.
And here's why.
(rhythmic music)
It's true, only about 1% of the overall fart mix
is the thing producing the smell.
That other 99% is stuff like, carbon dioxide, hydrogen,
nitrogen, oxygen, and methane. (fart)
So what is that 1% you ask?
Good question, it's the stuff left over in your GI tract.
It's the sulfurous gas, that small minority of it
that produces all of the smell.
And there's an interesting thing here
because it turns out that everybody's fart mix ratio,
you know, the sulphur, to the hydrogen, to the oxygen,
and so on. (fart)
It's unique.
It's kinda like a fingerprint
that comes outta your butt. (fart)
(rhythmic music)
(cat hiccups and farts) (rhythmic music)
There's nothing worse than an unnecessary fart.
The truth of the matter ladies and gentleman is this:
talking while you eat increases your chance of flatulence.
People believe it's because while you're eating and talking
you're taking in more air and it's going
through your tract to your colon
and there's only one way outta there.
Yep.
So the best way to prevent this, it turns out,
is to chew slowly.
Whether you're eating food or just chewing gum,
take your time with it.
This will allow less excess air to build up in your stomach
and ultimately become a fart. (fart)
It turns out that your Mom was right
when she said "don't talk with your mouth full".
If she said that.
(match strike) (rhythmic music)
(fart)
Amongst the many other deleterious effects
that smoking has on your health,
one of them is farting.
And, scientists don't know why.
We asked them, they were like,
"I don't know, but smoking makes you fart more".
There's a theory, though, it's the irritation
in the GI tract.
And just like with eating, and the relationship
between eating and farting,
smoking and farting has a similar relationship.
At least potentially.
The idea here is that when you smoke,
you're swallowing more air.
And this air is either gonna come out from the top
as a belch or come out from the south side,
the South Pole,
the "Australia",
as a fart.
(fart)
(rhythmic music)
(fart)
(woman mumbles reaction)
You've heard that expression, you are what you eat.
Well it turns out you do fart what you eat.
Down to the specific ingredients.
Carbohydrates are the primary culprit here,
you know, starches, fiber, stuff like that.
And foods that your body has trouble digesting
can ferment in your colon.
And as they ferment, of course,
they create smelly, stinky, just horrible gas.
Sugars or sweeteners, are another big problematic player.
They're not digested in your upper digestive tract.
What happens instead is that they pass through. (fart)
So you've got stuff like fructose,
you've got stuff like sucrose,
yes, even artificial sweeteners like sorbitol,
can affect the way that your farts smell
and how much of them you are making.
Anything that you eat, like strawberry smoothie here.
See ya in a little while, strawberry farts.
(fart)
You're welcome.
So, that's it.
Thank you so much for watching.
Share this video with your friends
so you can correct some of their misconceptions
about what's coming out of their...
them.
And let me know in the comments,
did you fart while watching this video?
If you'd like to learn more fascinating facts about farting,
then check out our Brain Stuff video,
"Why Are You Farting", on our YouTube channel.
And, if you wannna learn more about, not just farts,
but physics, music, sound and space,
then check out our website HowStuffWorks.com
(fart)