# Can you kill someone with farts?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 13, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972 "2004-10-13T06:17:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972/21 "2004-10-16T05:18:11Z")

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> [@Incubus](#):
>
> Say you have twenty people crammed in an elevator whose ventilation system is not functioning. All twenty people all fart simultaneously

Well, without the bouyancy provided by the internal gasses, the weight of the twenty people suddenly increases, snapping the cables, sending them plunging to their smelly doom.

Tragic.

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**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972/22 "2004-10-20T05:37:56Z")

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Well actually, QtM, your avid readers have a better memory of things you’ve said than you do. Although I got the clothes thing wrong. From [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=130925) thread:

> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#):
>
> Fart on a petri dish, and you will get colonies galore, thru pants or not.
> 
> QtM, MD, with fond memories of Microbiology lab.

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**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972/23 "2004-10-21T02:35:39Z")

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> [@robcaro](#):
>
> Just be sure that you don’t light a match!

Reminds me of hearing about the guys getting together on a Sat. night and expulsing flatuses into candle flames and watching the flares.

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**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:** [October 21, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972/24 "2004-10-21T02:51:22Z")

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> [@Princhester](#):
>
> Well actually, QtM, your avid readers have a better memory of things you’ve said than you do. Although I got the clothes thing wrong. From [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=130925) thread:

_Curse the internet and its perfect memory!_

I fa…, I mean I stand corrected.

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**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972/25 "2004-10-21T02:59:48Z")

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[Fart + petri dish experiment](http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/homework/s312551.htm)

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**Author:** ![quothz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/da6949/32.png) [@quothz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quothz)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972/26 "2004-10-21T05:06:54Z")

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> [@Flander](#):
>
> This line is so much funnier if read aloud in your best pirate voice!

I just wanted to say that the original line did not faze me, but your followup made me spray beer out my nose. You are correct, the pirate voice makes all the difference.

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**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972/27 "2004-10-21T06:16:07Z")

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I think a Klingon voice would give the pirate voice a run for its money.

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**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-kill-someone-with-farts/268972/28 "2004-10-21T14:18:31Z")

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_Killing me softly, with his sound…_

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