Is my scale broken or did I really shit 5 pounds?

[Starbury]

@Starbury

I’m pretty sure that Cecil wrote a column that said you actually weigh (very slightly) more after releasing gas. The column doesn’t seem to be online…I’ll have to check through the books to see if I can find it.

Ok, I found it. Its from More of The Straight Dope, p.380-381.

Here’s what Cecil said:

@Cecil

Two of the principal components of flatus are hydrogen and methane, which are both lighter than air. Thus it is conceivable that when you deflate, as it were, you lose buoyancy and add poundage. On the other hand, it is not clear what the ambient pressure of gas in the intestines is – a critical factor, since even a light gas under sufficient compression weighs the same as or more than air. Cecil offers the following proposition to the research community: you provide a practical expiremental design and a willing vict – er, subject; I’ll supply the beans.

Its been 15 years since that was written, so maybe someone has done further research on this.

[Patty_O_Furniture]

This Snopes article suggests something about the weight of impacted feces removed from a man complaining of severe constipation:

In 1994, an Israeli man sought medical attention because he was suffering from severe constipation two days after having eaten a large quantity of pomegranates. He refused to allow doctors to adminster an enema, fled the hospital, and returned a week later in severe pain and bleeding from his rectum. This time the doctors operated to remove the impacted feces. How much fecal matter did they remove? Half a kilogram, or a little over a pound. Just one pound of impacted feces was causing extreme pain and rectal bleeding in this patient, but we’re to believe that people can accumulate up to 80 pounds of the stuff without being aware of it?

So I have a hard time believing that all six pounds was due to solid waste. My guestimate:

Solid waste: .75 lbs
Liquid waste: .75 lbs
Perspiration from pushing too hard: .00001 lbs
Scale error: 4.49999 lbs

[Spezza]

[QUOTE=Trunk]

Is your fart lighter than air? I thought so.
QUOTE]

I always thought it was just hot air rising. Are we sure that fart is lighter than air, and if so, why?

[Starbury]

@Spezza

I always thought it was just hot air rising. Are we sure that fart is lighter than air, and if so, why?

Did you read my post (its just two posts above yours)? Let me quote myself quoting Cecil Adams:

Two of the principal components of flatus are hydrogen and methane, which are both lighter than air.

[JSexton]

@Attrayant

This Snopes article
Solid waste: .75 lbs
Liquid waste: .75 lbs
Perspiration from pushing too hard: .00001 lbs
Scale error: 4.49999 lbs

Reading yet another thread about poop: Priceless.

[bobinheber]

http://www.poopreport.com/

Go crazy

[spingears]

Depends to some extend on what you eat and how often you defecate.
Eat a lot and allow it to accumulate to FILL the bowel or lower intestine.
Weight the result(s) collect liquids & solids. Weigh on something a bit more accurate then run of the mill bathroom scales.
There is some risk of impacted bowels in doing such an experiment.
Caveat Emptor!

[robo99]

There’s a very good novel by Robertson Davies called The Rebel Angels in which one of the characters in it is a professor who studies shit. I highly recommend it.