# How does farting work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641 "2012-09-24T00:55:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/21 "2012-09-24T15:53:22Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Like a thin wind through the reeds, your flatus vibrates your buttcheeks at an appropriate Hertz and amplitude as to be audible. This was almost…poetic. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/22 "2012-09-24T17:43:13Z")
Slight hijack, but I thought the OP’s question was neatly answered by the title of the very next thread: “A question of dog responsibility”. Always works for me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/23 "2012-09-24T18:00:36Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > Not to be too crude - but how is it that you can fart without soiling yourself? You can? Dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/24 "2012-09-24T19:04:54Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Like a thin wind through the reeds, your flatus vibrates your buttcheeks at an appropriate Hertz and amplitude as to be audible. > > If you desire to let one loose in silence, find an inconspicuous way to spread your buttcheeks apart. But make sure they’re really apart, otherwise the frequency will raise, and it’ll be a high-pitched squeak. > > I speak from experience. It’s not your buttcheeks that vibrate, it’s your anus. Or butthole if you will. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/25 "2012-09-24T19:30:25Z")
Also, farts smell so deaf people can appreciate them too! ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/26 "2012-09-24T19:37:27Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > I love a good fart. They are quite literally a universal source of amusement on this little planet of ours. What I am curious about is the difference in scent that occurs depending upon what you eat. I have on a few well planned occasions consumed carefully selected foods with the intention of destroying my buddies. Two scoops of whey protein powder, a few eggs and a can of chili all washed down with a few beers and let me tell you, I possess an evil so putrid it should be registered somewhere. Other times, I have huge ‘air’ farts that are all bark, no bite. > > What gives? The smell is produced from compounds in food, or compounds created by bacteria and digestion, especially nitrogen and sulfur compounds; thus protein-rich foods are notorious for smelly farts, as are sulfur-rich foods (not always though; beans are high in protein but don’t make smelly farts): > [@](#): > > [The odor of farts](http://www.heptune.com/farts.html) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/27 "2012-09-24T19:39:51Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > It’s not your buttcheeks that vibrate, it’s your anus. Or butthole if you will. 🙂 Oh, I will. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/28 "2012-09-24T20:35:16Z")
[The Anal Sphincter](http://books.google.ca/books?id=7tQD9cCbohEC&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207&dq=they+say+man+has+succeeded+cupped+hands&source=bl&ots=XFCVzrO0x_&sig=ne6Pcl3Q3gfLqFeyRo7BjKw2BK0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mcNgUIPBNo6B0AHz4YGYBA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=they%20say%20man%20has%20succeeded%20cupped%20hands&f=false). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/29 "2012-09-24T21:18:43Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > We thought it was the Seroquel. More likely the Taco Bell. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/30 "2012-09-24T22:05:05Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Also, farts smell so deaf people can appreciate them too! He who smelt it dealt it. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/31 "2012-09-25T01:13:17Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > He who smelt it dealt it. He who denied it, supplied it. ---
**Author:** ![ArmenE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ArmenE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArmenE)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/32 "2012-09-25T02:11:44Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > On top of the fact that fecal matter is shooting out of your anus when you fart, those who smell it, are, in a way, tasting it too; which molecules are absorbed in your olfactory bulb then become a part of _you._ > > Keep that in mind next time you smell one. This is inaccurate. It’s absorbed into mucus, that’s true, but then, after interacting with olfactory receptor neurons in the olfactory epithelium (not the olfactory bulb), and inducing a temporary configurational change in olfactory receptor proteins, the odorants are let go and cleared out (probably down your throat and eventually, out the backside) ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/33 "2012-09-25T02:12:13Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Oh, I will. 😃 Me too. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/34 "2012-09-25T02:15:02Z")
> [@ArmenE](#): > > This is inaccurate. It’s absorbed into mucus, that’s true, but then, after interacting with olfactory receptor neurons in the olfactory epithelium (not the olfactory bulb), and inducing a temporary configurational change in olfactory receptor proteins, the odorants are let go and cleared out (probably down your throat and eventually, out the backside) Oh, you fardantics. 😉 But still, ewww gross! All I know is that someone’s fart molecules are entering my face, and proceeding through my head. Perhaps to even find a home there. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/35 "2012-09-25T02:47:10Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > It’s not your buttcheeks that vibrate, it’s your anus. Or butthole if you will. 🙂 I question this, but I will not ask for a cite. I question it because one time I shaved my ass, and the only disconcerting thing about having a shaved ass was that I could no longer sneak out farts like I used to. It seems I removed the little bit of material from between my cheeks that gave a bit of breathing room to vented gases, and it was definitely my cheeks that were vibrating; I can neither confirm nor deny at this point whether my anus was also vibrating. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/36 "2012-09-25T03:39:17Z")
> [@ArmenE](#): > > This is inaccurate. It’s absorbed into mucus, that’s true, but then, after interacting with olfactory receptor neurons in the olfactory epithelium (not the olfactory bulb), and inducing a temporary configurational change in olfactory receptor proteins, the odorants are let go and cleared out (probably down your throat and eventually, out the backside) Wait, I’m farting someone else’s farts? ---
**Author:** ![ArmenE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ArmenE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArmenE)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/37 "2012-09-25T18:20:19Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Wait, I’m farting someone else’s farts? That’s right. It’s turtles all the way down. ---
**Author:** ![born\_too\_late](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@born\_too\_late](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/born_too_late)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/38 "2012-09-25T21:35:56Z")
> [@ArmenE](#): > > That’s right. It’s turtles all the way down. Turdles? ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/39 "2012-09-25T22:45:54Z")
Well, when you think about it, some of your fart has been produced by gut bioflora farting out gases, so… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641/40 "2012-09-26T01:35:47Z")
I call it a sling blade. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-farting-work/635641.md?page=3)