Do the smoke and other fumes emanating from a burning match actively neutralize the odors of solid and gaseous excreta, or do they merely mask them? It seems to me that one little match can go a long way toward making the bathroom bearable for the next person who wants to use it. What’s the straight dope? Do the airborne uncombusted charcoal particles absorb odors?
As far as I’ve heard (and this could very well be compley BS), what a match/candle does when it burns (odour-wise) is that as it burns it uses some of the oxygen in the air (or somesuch) and you know, kinda burns out the odour of ‘used’ air.
Man, does that sound dumb when I write it out.
As far as I know, what you are doing there is just burning the methane (which is nicely flammable) and with it the hydrogen sulphide that causes the odor. Flatus also contain Oxigen (also flammable), and CO2
Then a lighter should work too, right? But I don’t think it does…
The sulfur from the match combines with the methane from your flattus to form lint. Since lint is heavier than air, the bathroom doesn’t reek anymore but you’ll need to check your navel more often.
Maybe the butane gas being burned gets in the way of any methane ambient in the bathroom air?
Also, a match emits a masking odor – sulphur. Maybe butane is too weak of a masking agent?
less masking of the odor than a diversion, slight-of-hand.
the match burns hardly any of the methane you release. even if it did, methane is without smell, so the destruction of methane would not affect l’odoeur.
bsically, you burn a match, a lot of sulfrus (sp?) compounds are released. these smell. one’s flat also contains sulfur-containing compounds (mercaptans, i think?).
you poo, say ‘hoo boy, that smells like poop’. you light a match. enough of the match smells resemble the poo smells, so that even when you smell many of the poo smells, you’re thinking ‘match smell’.
at least, that’s my guess.
jb
It could also just be a time-killer; you go get the match, light it, stand around, blow it out, sniff, light another match, stand around, etc., and by the time you’re done, the odor has dissipated exactly the same as if you’d done nothing. Sort of like tapping on a soda can to reduce fizzies: doesn’t do anything but tick down seconds.