blogawiki

From the Fart lighting wiki page:

Fart lighting, variously referred to as fart-burning, blue-darting, blue flame, blue angel, flatus ignition, and pyroflatulence, is the practice of setting fire to the gases produced by human flatulence, often producing a blue hue. Other colors of flame such as orange and yellow are possible, and the color depends on the mixture of gases formed in the colon.

Chemistry

The composition of flatus varies dramatically among individuals. Flatulence produces a mixture of gases with the following six as major components:^[1]

• carbon dioxide,
• hydrogen,
• hydrogen sulfide
• methane,
• nitrogen, and
• oxygen.

Methane burns in oxygen forming water and carbon dioxide often producing a blue hue (ΔH_c = -891 kJ/mol),^[2] as:

CH₄(g) + 2O₂(g) → CO₂(g) + 2H₂O(g)

Hydrogen sulfide also combusts (ΔH_c = -519 kJ/mol)^[3] to

2H₂S(g) + 3O₂(g) → 2SO₂(g) + 2H₂O(g)

The odor associated with flatus is due to hydrogen sulfide, skatole, indole, volatile amines and short chain fatty acids. These substances are detectable by olfactory neurons in concentrations as low as 10 parts per billion, hydrogen sulfide being the most odorous.^[4]

Serious injuries

The flammability of bodily gases has caused serious problems in the medical operating room and also in animal slaughterhouses. There have been many reports in the medical literature of “life-threatening explosions” in patients undergoing electrocautery of colon polyps or other lesions.^[15] In one case, the explosion resulted in a six-inch (15 cm) hole in the patient’s large intestine. However, the hole was repaired and the patient recovered.^[16]

Patents

In May 2000, a U.S. patent was issued for a “Toy gas fired missile and launcher assembly”, a product that would allow one’s “colonic gases” to be stored for later ignition to “fire the missile into space.”^[35]