Fascinating Fart Facts

Wafting Through Great Moments of Wind

A Hearty Honk
On average, a man with a healthy diet lets out about a quart of gas every day, divided between 10 to 15 farts. (Mayor McCheese, on the other hand, can probably blow down White Castle with his sesame-seed buns.)

Ladies, Please
Women fart slightly less than men, approximately eight or nine times every day, but their gas is more concentrated. (And if they ask, it smells like Clairol Herbal Essence.)

Blowing in the Wind
Flatulence is composed of approximately three-fifths nitrogen, one-fifth hydrogen, one-tenth carbon dioxide, and small amounts of methane and oxygen -- all of which are essentially odorless. The joy comes from trace amounts of other chemicals, especially ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and skatole (excrement), which people can smell at levels of 1 part per 100 million parts of air.

Making Whoopee
The Whoopee Cushion was inspired by an invention that's several centuries old: The "fool's bladder," a balloon made from a pig bladder that jesters reportedly used to entertain royalty. (An ancient gag that never gets old.)

Rover Let's It Rip
Why is it easy for your uncle to blame his farts on the dog? Because Fido gulps lots of air when he gulps his food and water, causing him to be quite flatulent.

Firing Scud Missiles
Your flatus has a temperature of 98.6, like you, when it's inside your body, but cools quickly as it flies away from the launching pad at ten feet per second.

Cutting the Coli
The human colon has at least 395 types of bacteria, but E. coli is the highest-ranking offender, according to Stanford University DNA researcher Dr. Paul Eckburg. E. coli creates gas by munching away at the meal you ate a few hours ago and microfarting what it doesn't need. (And you thought E. Coli was just found on spinach and fast-food-drive-thru workers.) A Complex BreakdownBeans, mushrooms, cabbage and onions cause a lot of gas because they contain complex sugars that your body simply can't break down. (So, remember, the reason hippies stink is because of the bean loaf, not the patchouli.)

Johnny Splits Sides with Crack Splitters
Johnny Depp has employed a fart machine on several movie sets to break the tension, including "Chocolat" and "Finding Neverland." In the DVD extra "The Magic of Finding Neverland" the sound of farts can be heard during dinner, and Depp explains: "We sort of saved the fart machine for special moments. [Director] Marc [Forster] and I planned it out early on that we needed it to loosen that dinner scene up, so we hid the Fart Machine under the table and waited for the boys' close-ups and just started nailing 'em, and it worked like a charm."

The Godfather of Farts
During the filming of "The Score" (2001), Marlon Brando would find out where his co-star Robert Deniro was going to sit in a particular scene and then tape a fart machine underneath the chair (according to Edward Norton).

[via asylum]

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