# Are lit candles really an effective way of cleansing the air from farts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940 "2003-03-08T18:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b782af/32.png) [@Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermann_Cheruscan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/1 "2003-03-08T18:24:57Z")
My wife was telling me the other day that one of her friends has a husband with a real flatulence problem. Evidently, the guy just cuts loose at night when he’s sleeping, and fouls up their bedroom. My wife was telling me that her friend deals with this problem by lighting candles in the room, which, supposedly, burn off the methane and “cleans” up the air. Has anyone ever heard of something like this? It seems rather incredulous to me that a couple of candle flames would be able to clean the foul smell out of the air. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/2 "2003-03-08T18:52:48Z")
Wouldn’t that work by masking with another smell rather than by burning off? I have found striking a match quite effective at making air in badly ventilated toilets more agreeable. That works quickly, surely more quickly that the time it would take for a lot of air to pass the flame. ---
**Author:** ![broccoli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@broccoli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/broccoli)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/3 "2003-03-08T19:03:44Z")
Farts are methane, basically, and they are flammable. So my WAG would be that a candle would burn off the fart particles in the air. I had roommates who would keep a canlde or two on top of the toilet, just in case. Also there is a popular collequism (spelling?) that is basically “(when you’re finished in there) Light a match!” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/4 "2003-03-08T19:46:17Z")
Methane is odorless, so even if you burned it with candles (which is doubtful) it wouldn’t do much to improve the smell. Lighting a match in a bathroom _apré merde_ just disguises the fart smell with the more pungent odor of burning sulphur. ---
**Author:** ![oldman\_withers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc29f/32.png) [@oldman\_withers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldman_withers)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/5 "2003-03-08T20:46:21Z")
To highjack your thread a bit: What is it that makes farts smell then, and how would you get rid of these from the air in a practical manner? ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/6 "2003-03-08T21:08:26Z")
I believe Cecil has covered this before, but I am out the door. Fire in general helps with fart odors, but I would strongly discourage keeping candles lit while sleeping. They have a way of starting bigger fires. ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/7 "2003-03-08T21:51:16Z")
WAG - fire burns off methane which helps release chemical bonds of other substances that give farts their odor? Less the methane, the odor dissipates faster. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/8 "2003-03-08T22:05:10Z")
My son, being the American Teen Male that he is, thinks farts are hilarious entertainment, so I have become quite the expert. Candles do nothing, lighting and immediately extinguishing a match works wonders. Of course, if you don’t like the odor of struck matches this won’t help. And, like **Road Rash** pointed out, sleeping with lit candles is foolhardy. ---
**Author:** ![TeleTronOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4af34b/32.png) [@TeleTronOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeleTronOne)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/9 "2003-03-08T22:05:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by broccoli! \* > \*\*Farts are methane, basically, and they are flammable. So my WAG would be that a candle would burn off the fart particles in the air. I had roommates who would keep a canlde or two on top of the toilet, just in case. > \*\* Compeltely off-topic, but if you ever start a band, you should name it “The Fart Particles”. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/10 "2003-03-08T22:06:28Z")
Oops. left out this thought: If the effectiveness of lighting anything was due to it “burning off” the methane, wouldn’t this only work if the fart and the flame were in immediate proximity? ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/11 "2003-03-09T03:06:21Z")
Won’t the methane only burn if it’s concentration is between the lower and upper explosive or flammable limits… ~5%-15% by volume with air? The smelly part you’d actually want to burn off is some sort of sulfer compound, like H2S, which also has an LEL and UEL of 4%-44%. If the bathroom air volume is 10 cubic meters (~6.5 X 6.5 X 8 feet), that’d mean you’d have to have a volume of something like 0.4-4.4 cubic meters of H2S, which is 400-4,400 L of gas in the bathroom. If that 4% volume were H2S, you’d have a concentration of 40,000 ppm in the air. According to the H2S course I just took, you only need 700-1000 ppm (0.07-0.1%) to immediatley render a person unconscious and kill them. So it seems you’ll be killed by the amount of gas required for it to burn in air long before you’ll be able to light the candle. You can smell this gas at concentrations of 0.0001% by volume though… so there’s not near as much gas present as you may think. This [page](http://www.heptune.com/farts.html) says the average person produces about 1/2 L of total “gas” per day (it ain’t all the flammable stuff either)… so unless I’ve made an error here you’d need to have at least 800 people dispense their entire day’s contribution in that bathroom in order for the candle to burn the gas - assuming you let it mix and evenly distribute through the air in that room… otherwise you’d have to have your ignition source a few inches away at the “moment of release” in order for the gas concentration to be high enough to be flammable. This all sounds quite off… have I made a mistake here somewhere, or is the whole concept of burning off fart gas with a candle (rather than simply masking the odour) a steaming load? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/12 "2003-03-09T03:21:22Z")
Of course the sulphurous smell of matches stinks. But the smoldering tip is an effective antifart device. So why not—_duh_ employ a smoldering tip that smells good? Enter the incense stick. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/13 "2003-03-09T04:39:11Z")
I rather enjoy the smell of smoldering matches.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/14 "2003-03-09T05:17:47Z")
You can also use one or many matchsticks to “obstruct” the offending orifice. However, lighting of the matches is not recommended for this method. ---
**Author:** ![yolady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/f04885/32.png) [@yolady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yolady)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/15 "2003-03-09T21:23:36Z")
My husband is a big farter and has the temerity to object to mine. Yes, matches work. What works better is a room of your own. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/16 "2003-03-09T21:38:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by broccoli! \* > \*\*Farts are methane, basically \*\* No they’re not! From: [http://oac3.hsc.uth.tmc.edu/apstracts/1997/gastro/February/23g.html](http://oac3.hsc.uth.tmc.edu/apstracts/1997/gastro/February/23g.html) > [@](#): > > To better understand the physiology of colonic gas production, each flatus passage of 16 subjects over a four hour period was analyzed by gas chromatography for N2, O2, H2, CO2, CH4 and for odoriferous sulfur-containing gases. Appreciable intra-individual and enormous inter-individual variability was observed indicating that each gas passage reflected the interaction of highly variable liberation and/or removal mechanisms. The predominant flatus gas was CO2, H2, and N2 in 7, 6, and 3 subjects, respectively. Gases produced intraluminally, H2, CO2 and CH4, comprised approximately 74% of flatus, and rapid CO2 and H2 production were responsible for high passage rates. A positive correlation between flatus H2 and CO2 suggested that CO2, like H2, mainly was a bacterial product. Whereas methanogens and H2S-producing bacteria usually are mutually exclusive in feces, methane and H2S did not negatively correlate, indicating co-existence of both organisms in the colon. We conclude that analysis of flatus composition provides a novel means of assessing colonic physiology, particularly ongoing bacterial metabolism throughout the unperturbed colon. In no subject was methane the predominant gas. ---
**Author:** ![derivative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@derivative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/derivative)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/17 "2003-03-23T20:01:09Z")
If my GF lit a candle around my farts, I would be worried about the whole damn room exploding! ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/18 "2003-03-24T03:48:46Z")
The op might find this humorous: [http://www.johnbarber.com/pujol.html](http://www.johnbarber.com/pujol.html) Further googling will find that Le Petomane could blow out candles 2 feet away from him. That he outsold contemporary actors and comedians has something to be said for him. ---
**Author:** ![DaveW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DaveW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveW)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/19 "2003-03-24T04:51:06Z")
**mmmiiikkkeee** wrote: > [@](#): > > Won’t the methane only burn if it’s concentration is between the lower and upper explosive or flammable limits… ~5%-15% by volume with air? I would guess that those limits represent the range in which methane would be able to _sustain_ burning, all by itself. In other words, the individual molecules would be close enough together so that the heat released from the oxidation of some of them would encourage the oxidation of their neighbors. And the high-end of the range would signify the point where there’s not enough oxygen. If the methane concentration is just 1%, I can’t imagine that a single methane molecule which finds itself inside a flame produced by a candle won’t burn. It just won’t be able to also ignite its closest neighbor, however far away it might be. Given enough time and a huge candle, however, and it’ll eventually burn all the methane in the room. ---
**Author:** ![derivative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@derivative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/derivative)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940/20 "2003-03-24T05:51:33Z")
Ok, there is no more appropriate of a post LOL My brother sent me this survey about farts the other day. Pretty damn funny. Share it with your friends! [http://members.lycos.co.uk/jacosurveys](http://members.lycos.co.uk/jacosurveys) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-lit-candles-really-an-effective-way-of-cleansing-the-air-from-farts/159940.md?page=2)