# Is There a "Standard" Turd? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244 "2012-08-31T11:50:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/1 "2012-08-31T11:50:55Z")
When regulatory/certification organizations like CSA, TUV, BSA, etc. evaluate flush toilets, do they use a “standardized” turd to test these appliances? I wonder if there is sch a thing as a CE description of such an object (defining the mass, size, consistency, etc.). After all, it must be possible to objectively test toilest; to do so must mean that you have to test them under the same conditions-hence the “standard turd”. Just like the chickens they fire at airliner cockpit windows!🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/2 "2012-08-31T11:59:12Z")
A good question **ralph124c**. I do not have the answer - however, for accurate calibration surely one would test a flush toilet to failure? So not so much a standard turd, as a standard pipe-choker. The upper limit, beyond which flushing becomes a futile gesture. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/3 "2012-08-31T12:12:04Z")
[“Gentlemen, thaw your turds.”](http://www.snopes.com/science/cannon.asp) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/4 "2012-08-31T12:23:31Z")
I am not clicking that link. Nope. Not gonna do it. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/5 "2012-08-31T12:33:01Z")
So is it not the median or mode but a mean turd you’re looking for? ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/6 "2012-08-31T12:37:10Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > So is it not the median or mode but a mean turd you’re looking for? Which leads me to wonder how many standard deviations above the mean would the turd that **Busy Scissors** mentioned be? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/7 "2012-08-31T12:43:13Z")
I don’t know but who better to check with about configuring it to size than **Busy Scissors**? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/8 "2012-08-31T12:43:36Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I am not clicking that link. Nope. Not gonna do it. It is completely safe to click. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/9 "2012-08-31T12:44:36Z")
Oh my god. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/10 "2012-08-31T12:48:11Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Oh my god. Can’t process the fact that \*\*Floater \*\*posted in a thread about turds, can you? It was good coffee, too. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/11 "2012-08-31T13:03:13Z")
Oh, and too late to edit: How about that book about engineering for humans in space, [Packing for Mars](http://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life/dp/0393068471)(amazon link)? Gotta be something about this in there…I’ve been meaning to, but has anyone read it? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/12 "2012-08-31T13:10:58Z")
For medical purposes there is the [Bristol stool scale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_stool_scale), “with 3 and 4 being the ideal stools especially the latter.” The Wikipedia article includes a convenient picture chart. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/13 "2012-08-31T13:12:42Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > So is it not the median or mode but a mean turd you’re looking for? This just calls to mind [this headline from The Onion](http://goo.gl/ZW7N4) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/14 "2012-08-31T13:12:55Z")
I saw a documentary about a toilet manufacturing facility once. They use a number of objects to test the flushing success of a toilet, from golf balls, to soaked wads of paper, to a biodegradable dough-like concoction that is meant to simulate, well, a turd. It’s not just one thing, but a whole range of them. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/15 "2012-08-31T13:14:24Z")
Watched a show about how toilets are made, maybe on History Channel, and the manufacturer used bean paste sealed in condoms for testing. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/16 "2012-08-31T13:14:38Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Can’t process the fact that \*\*Floater \*\*posted in a thread about turds, can you? I was once taken aside by an English friend who asked if I knew what my name means in his cultural circles (I do). :eek: He also told me that he had seen a cross section of a toilet where you could follow a turd through the mechanism. When it came out a robot arm lifted it up and placed in the bowl again. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/17 "2012-08-31T13:33:22Z")
Yes. It’s made of platinum-iridium alloy and kept in a temperature-controlled vault in Paris. I munderstand that toilet manufacturers use a variety of things to test their devices, including ping-pong balls. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/18 "2012-08-31T13:46:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > … kept in a temperature-controlled vault in Paris. City of Shite. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/19 "2012-08-31T13:51:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yes. It’s made of platinum-iridium alloy and kept in a temperature-controlled vault in Paris. We don’t 'cotton to no Metric stuff 'round here… we’ll stick with the American Long Ton, thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244/20 "2012-08-31T15:01:57Z")
Boeing uses dog kibble to test the toilet system on jetliners. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-turd/633244.md?page=2)