Be careful folks!
Man, this newspaper has some weird ass headlines (not just this article). Japan amiright?
Anyway, is this really what happened? Or did the doctors show up hungover (apparently drinking until you pass out is socially acceptable among Japanese workers) and then inadvertently light everything on fire? Then, to avoid a malpractice lawsuit, they did what any reasonable professional would do - blame it on someone else’s farts.
Isn’t fart mainly made up of carbon dioxide? Only when you are utterly vegan then you start producing methane, which is highly flammable. Now you know who to blame.
Well, there’s presumably some sulfur in there, which is what makes them smell.
I believe it’s methane that actually is ignitable. If Krokman is right, then whether you can light your gas on fire depends on your diet.
OK, here’s what a google search revealed:
“A typical fart is composed of about 59 percent nitrogen, 21 percent hydrogen, 9 percent carbon dioxide , 7 percent methane and 4 percent oxygen. Only about one percent of a fart contains hydrogen sulfide gas and mercaptans, which contain sulfur, and the sulfur is what makes farts stink.”
Wow, there’s hydrogen in there. I wonder if the percentages are by weight or volume. Usually these things are by weight.
“The laser is believed to have ignited the gas she passed. The blaze burned much of her body, including her waist and legs.”
I’m sure some component of the gas can catch fire, but I do not think it is normal for your fart to explode and burn your whole body. If that were the case, we would not have to rely on such tricks as “if you smelt it, you dealt it” to identify the people who pass gass.
I was only making an analogy to the bovines whose farts are methane intensive but it does really depend on the diet. Take beans for example. Highly volatile foods and guess what, rich in nitrogen, which by the way is highly inert.
I saw one of my brother’s friends light a fart on fire when they were in late middle school. The flame was approximately a cubic foot.
Hydrogen gas is highly flammable (also when mixed with oxygen)…