# Can a person trap a fart? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441 "2005-01-12T21:10:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snack\_Pack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b487fb/32.png) [@Snack\_Pack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snack_Pack)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/1 "2005-01-12T21:10:40Z")
Can a person trap a fart in a container for use at a later time? I don’t just mean trapping a gas in a jar, but can you preserve the essence of the fart, i.e. smell, sound, etc. Thank You. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/2 "2005-01-12T21:41:34Z")
“For use”? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/3 "2005-01-12T21:45:21Z")
Yeah, like for cooking. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/4 "2005-01-12T21:45:42Z")
The actual gas (and its resultant smell, unless it decomposes but I don’t think it does) can be trapped in a container. This is easily accomplished in a bathtub. The only way I’m aware of capturing the sound for later reproduction is with a microphone and recorder device. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/5 "2005-01-12T21:46:38Z")
How ironic that a poster with the name CookingWithGas should ask, “For use?” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/6 "2005-01-12T21:49:55Z")
What would you catch it with? _Flupperware?_ ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/7 "2005-01-12T21:51:41Z")
The sound, definitely not. Although you could rig up a limp rubber nozzle on the exhaust of your little container to mimic the sound. It would be a recreation, though, not the original. And the gasses involved could interact with each other over time. If you’re not using a lab glass container, they would interact with the container as well. I’d suggest a storage time of less than a week for relative freshness and a much, much shorter time if you plan on doing any gas analysis. If you’re considering the ‘use’ I think you are, you might be better off rotting an egg in a squeezable container and then using that gas to fill a whoopee cushion. ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/8 "2005-01-13T00:45:32Z")
> [@Snack Pack](#): > > …can you preserve the essence of the fart… …which leads us to the genuine crux of the Straight Dope Philosophy: do farts have a soul, or are they just “sound and fury, signifying nothing”? Certainly they are “born of man” (or woman, no sexist preferences here), but very few crepitators seem to want to acknowledge them - making farts the Bastard Child of the gas kingdom. Chemically, I suppose the “essence of the fart” would be methane, with an overtone of sulphur and a nuance of carbon compounds, adding just a _soupcon_ of ammonia for zest. I suppose this could be captured, nurtured, perhaps even preserved - but I fear it may be an evanescent essence, too delicate for extended cellaring. So if you had it in mind to pass on to subsequent generations some pungent reminder of yourself, perhaps you should consider something less fragile. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/9 "2005-01-13T00:45:55Z")
I think everyone is off base here. The OP specifically excluded capturing gas in a jare. He wanted to capture the “essence” or true nature of the thing. So I did some internet research and discovered three distinct meanings: 1)a reflex that expels intestinal gas through the anus 2)to fritter away in meaningless activity 3)a stupid or foolish person So my post has captured the essence relative to the first two and quite possibly myself relative to the third. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/10 "2005-01-13T01:16:39Z")
An elevator is an excellent fart trap, but you gotta fake the sound each time more passengers get on. Anything to enrich the experience for them, though. If you get on an elevator and there’s already one there, you get to add to it without being suspected. You can practice “throwing your voice”, as it were. _Never_ get on an elevator full of contractors. They don’t understand how to not overdo a good thing, and they eat off of Roach Coaches. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/11 "2005-01-13T01:35:52Z")
If all you want to do is cook with preserved farts, you should have no trouble trapping the methane in any gas-tight container. Things are a little dicier if you also want to preserve the odor. [Cecil describes the odorous compounds thusly:](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_079.html) > [@](#): > > Interestingly, the characteristic fragrance of the fart is produced not by any of the aforementioned gases but by “minute amounts of volatile chemicals formed by bacterial metabolism of residual protein and fat,” we read here. Persons whose flatulence is especially memorable in this regard may be suffering from dietary maladjustment. For example, people with lactase deficiency who drink a lot of milk are said to be able to produce a gas of near-lethal impact. [Facts on Farts](http://www.heptune.com/farts.html) gets a little more specific: > [@](#): > > The odor of farts comes from small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas and mercaptans in the mixture. These compounds contain sulfur. Nitrogen-rich compounds such as skatole and indole also add to the stench of farts. The more sulfur-rich your diet, the more sulfides and mercaptans will be produced by the bacteria in your guts, and the more your farts will stink. Foods such as cauliflower, eggs and meat are notorious for producing smelly farts, whereas beans produce large amounts of not particularly stinky farts. Many mercaptans such as, methyl, ethyl, or n-butyl mercaptan are stable compounds, so their smell should preserve well. The thiol (sulfide) component of farts is much more labile. Sulfides react with each other, oxygen and many other materials, producing non-smelly end products. If you’re going to capture the sulfides anyway, be sure to use a non-silver container, as silver is an excellent sulfur leach. You’ll just end up with tarnished silver, and no smelly sufide gases. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/12 "2005-01-13T01:52:33Z")
Where is that thread about the doper who captured three farts in an antique fireplace bellows only to have an unsuspecting coworker come in and shoot himself in the face with them? I can’t find it, 'twould be a shame if such a classic were lost to the hamsters. …and I _know_ I didn’t just dream it! Was it you, **lieu**? ---
**Author:** ![Alvis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alvis)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/13 "2005-01-13T02:03:32Z")
Please find the thread, if only so I can learn in which profession bellows are acceptable office accoutrements. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/14 "2005-01-13T03:00:52Z")
**Essence of Fart** would be an excellent name for alternative band album. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/15 "2005-01-13T03:02:10Z")
On to more serious matters, would it be possible to harness the energy of a fart to power, say , a computer or even a car? ---
**Author:** ![klintypooh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@klintypooh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klintypooh)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/16 "2005-01-13T03:11:08Z")
If it’s of any interest, you can catch a fart in your hand and deliver it to somebodies mouth and nose as they take a breath, thus ensuring they truly appreciate it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/17 "2005-01-13T03:20:30Z")
> [@klintypooh](#): > > If it’s of any interest, you can catch a fart in your hand and deliver it to somebodies mouth and nose as they take a breath, thus ensuring they truly appreciate it. 🙂 It happened 5 years ago, long before we were married. She hasn’t forgiven me yet. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/18 "2005-01-13T03:26:17Z")
If you trap a fart it will only enrage PETA and they will start a campaign on how farts should be free-range and not kept in a bottle. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/19 "2005-01-13T03:28:48Z")
I should think strategic use of a plastic bag or balloon, made of some relatively inert material, would be sufficient to trap a good portion of a fart. Insertion of the opening of a balloon (or some sort of tubing attached to the opening of the balloon) into the anus might work well, as long as the balloon were sufficiently large and flexible enough to allow the gas to flow into the balloon and not produce too much back-pressure. Rapid closure of the opening of the balloon, perhaps with some sort of clamp, like a haemostat, after farting, might allow for capture of the bulk of the gas. As **squink** pointed out, preventing reaction of sulfhydryl groups with other components of the fart itself will be next to impossible, but many of the other smelly compounds will last a while. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441/20 "2005-01-13T04:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Where is that thread about the doper who captured three farts in an antique fireplace bellows only to have an unsuspecting coworker come in and shoot himself in the face with them? Link: [😃](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=224120) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-trap-a-fart/284441.md?page=2)