# Gas how long does it last
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 3, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880 "2000-02-03T16:53:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/1 "2000-02-03T16:53:00Z")
It with a great deal of shame that I make this report and ask this question. I was lying in bed last night long after wifie had gone to sleep. I had to pass gas in the worst way so I let a SBD ( silent but deadly) fart under the cover ( I am just too lazy to get up and go to the bathroom so sue me.) Anyway I lay very still watching TV in hopes that the fart would disipate sooner or later. Much to my decern and surprise, 20 minutes later as I rolled over and flapped the covers yikes! there was the 20 min old fart right there wafting right up in my face.
So I was wondering just how long these things can last if left alone? Is there not enought air underneath the covers for them to disipate?
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“I think it speaks to the duality of man sir.”
(private Joker in Full Metal Jacket)
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### Author:  [@BunnyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyGirl)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/2 "2000-02-03T17:10:00Z")
BAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Got any nose hairs left?
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### Author:  [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/3 "2000-02-03T17:16:00Z")
aha, good to see you back in true posting form again.
This story is as sophomoric as it gets, but I suppose you’re allowed to be sophomoric when you’re 12. right?
My friend invited me over, we went up into his room…he pulls a container of tupperware out from under his bed, and tells me to look inside. I open it up and get FLOORED by the smell inside.
After he stops laughing (a good 3 minutes later), he tells me he farted in there 3 months ago and let it fester under his bed.
Jackass.
Of course, he could have just done it an hour before hand and lied to me, but knowing this kid–I bet he kept a fart under his bed for 3 months.
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### Author:  [@StrTrkr777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrTrkr777)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/4 "2000-02-03T17:51:00Z")
Mouthbreather, congratulations on keeping the responses down at the original level of the post.
As to the OP, I would guess that the smell would stay around for sometime under the covers. As to how long, get into a sleeping bag. Let it go and when you open it in the morning see if it still smells.
Jeffery
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### Author:  [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2000, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/5 "2000-02-04T06:05:00Z")
Does anyone else find it amusing that a poster named “mouthbreather” answered a fart question?
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I used to rock and roll all night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I’m lucky if I can find a half an hour a week in which to get funky.
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### Author:  [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2000, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/6 "2000-02-04T06:12:00Z")
Some novelty stores I’ve been in were selling “Fart in a Can”. (I’ve never bought one, I’m just waiting to see if anybody ever comes up with a “I Can’t Believe it’s Not a Fart!” knockoff). Anybody here ever bought one?
Maybe they could tell you.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2000, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/7 "2000-02-04T06:12:00Z")
I can’t vouch for their ultimate olfactory-offensive life, but I do know that I used to live in a drafty apartment. One day I got tired of the drafts, so I put up plastic over the outsides of the windows and suddenly, the air became virtually motionless. One afteroon, I went out to see a movie and sliced the cheese just before leaving.
When I walked back in over three hours later, it was still fresh as a dai – well, you know . . .
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### Author:  [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/8 "2000-02-03T19:07:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by Cabbage:
> \*\*Some novelty stores I’ve been in were selling “Fart in a Can”. (I’ve never bought one, I’m just waiting to see if anybody ever comes up with a “I Can’t Believe it’s Not a Fart!” knockoff). Anybody here ever bought one?
>
> Maybe they could tell you. \*\*
My 9 y/o daughter bought fart in a can. It wasn’t a device to give out bad odors, it was a putty/jello type substance that you mashed into its container and it made farting noises as you released the trapped air.
## Enright3
“You tryin’ to tell me Jesus Christ can’t hit a curve ball?” - Eddie Harris(Major League)
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### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/9 "2000-02-03T19:14:00Z")
I once saw a product called “Fart Gas” on a store shelf. Next to it was a hand-lettered sign that said:
\[ul]Please[/ul] do not open the fart gas!\
For some reason that struck me as incredibly funny, but so far no-one I’ve told this to has agreed.
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### Author:  [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/10 "2000-02-03T19:54:00Z")
I once saw an (sp)aresol can of “Bullshit Spray” to be directed at anyone you suspected of bullshitting you…I don’t know what was in it…probably just air.
* * *
“I think it speaks to the duality of man sir.”
(private Joker in Full Metal Jacket)
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/11 "2000-02-03T21:11:00Z")
aha, you’re supposed to pull the covers above your wifes head. This is called a dutch oven.
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### Author:  [@Dirty\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dirty_Devil)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/12 "2000-02-03T21:34:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by handy:
> \*\*
> aha, you’re supposed to pull the covers above your wifes head. This is called a dutch oven.\*\*
I always called it a “covered wagon”. Doesn’t seem to impress the wife much.
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### Author:  [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/13 "2000-02-03T21:48:00Z")
Yes, I bought a can of the “fart spray”. It doesn’t really smell like farts, but it is VERY devastating. Stuff smelled so bad it almost made me blow chunks on the spot. We bought it along with its companion product, “Shit In A Can”. “SIAC” is a kind of foamy brown substance that looks an awful lot like turds if you spray it properly. I ran with a sophisticated crowd, you see…
## Don’t you hate it when farts “follow” you? Especially in cold weather when the heavier clothing gives them more staying power.
“It’s only common sense,
There are no accidents 'round here.”
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2000, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/14 "2000-02-03T22:20:00Z")
You probably don’t want to see the math, but a basic high school chemistry book can answer this. Diffusion of a gas by natural methods (not forced by a fan) is simple enough to figure. The rest I leave to you. It’ll give yous something to do beyond raising a stink.
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2000, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/15 "2000-02-04T00:04:00Z")
It’s one of the surest ways to make acquaintances: Go into an empty roon and let loose with a force 10 pants-buster. Within seconds, the door will burst open and a number of people will enter to enjoy your company. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Manduck2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck2)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/16 "2000-02-04T02:36:00Z")
I forgot to mention that the fart gas had instructions printed on the can:
“Spray near a friend then ask him if something crawled up his ass and died”
I _almost_ bought some
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2000, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/17 "2000-02-04T03:04:00Z")
## I’m waiting for them to market “Vet Smell” in a can, so I can keep our cats off the dining room table.
Soon afterwards, Deimos simply vanished from the sky.
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### Author:  [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2000, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/18 "2000-02-06T09:39:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by Manduck:
> \*\*I once saw a product called “Fart Gas” on a store shelf. Next to it was a hand-lettered sign that said:
>
> \[ul]Please[/ul] do not open the fart gas!\
>
> For some reason that struck me as incredibly funny, but so far no-one I’ve told this to has agreed.\*\*
I don’t know why…I almost peed on myself from laughing so hard!! I guess that’s a different thread, though…
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The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they’re going to be when you kill them.
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### Author:  [@tbea925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbea925)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2000, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/19 "2000-02-06T23:48:00Z")
You know, as strange as it sounds, I actually missed reading threads like this.
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This sig not Y2K compliant. Happy 1900.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2000, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-how-long-does-it-last/6880/20 "2000-02-08T06:07:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by Lumpy:
> \*\*I’m waiting for them to market “Vet Smell” in a can, so I can keep our cats off the dining room table. \*\*
:::choke::::snort::::gasp::: heeeeee hee hee!
It shouldn’t be too awfully hard to take the air from the vet’s office and/or exam rooms and compress it into a big tank.
One more thing for the veterinarian’s business to market. Wonder if it WOULD work??
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**FixedBack**
“When learned men begin to use their reason, then I generally discover that they haven’t got any.”~~\*G.K.Chesterton 1908 \*