I never experienced that lighting a match neutralized or even effectively covered up the smell of farts. Before it just smelled like a fart. Now it smells like burning shit. THANKS DAD!
For me it’s the same reason why you don’t spray air freshener in the bathroom after you drop a load. Because as objectionable as rancid shit smells, rancid potpourri shit is WAY WORSE. And it lingers longer.
YNMV (your nose may vary), of course.
I don’t smoke or fart but matches smell great 
I was taught at an early age to light a match after a smelly session in the bathroom, so I did. Never did the smell of a burning match hide the stench of shit. After snuffing the flame, I’d have a bathroom that reeked of match smoke and crap.
Exactly this…
and shit.
[quote=“rachelellogram, post:21, topic:569280”]
For me it’s the same reason why you don’t spray air freshener in the bathroom after you drop a load. Because as objectionable as rancid shit smells, rancid potpourri shit is WAY WORSE. And it lingers longer.QUOTE]
I have often thought this, but could never have put it so eloquently. I scared the dog right out of my lap by bursting out laughing. Bravo!
The question was scientific, emphasized as such by the OP.
The accepted international spelling for the element in English is “sulfur.”
“Sulphur” is a Britishism.
You are of course free to spell things however you like, correctly or not, at your whim.
Bravo, LSLGuy!
Human’s are very sensitive to the smell of sulphur compounds. It can be detected at a very low levels AND the receptors do not get saturated.
heheh, thanks. My mom’s been saying it since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and I picked up the sentiment from her. We never kept air freshener in our bathroom!
The match head releases a little explosion of carbon. Carbon absorbs the smell.
I don’t think that this is it. The amount of carbon soot present from lighting a match is minuscule.
While carbon (especially activated carbon) has a tremendous amount of surface area per unit volume, I don’t think there is enough to account for the effect under discussion here.
Also, carbon doesn’t absorb smells; instead, organic compounds are adsorbed onto the surface of the carbon. This should not be confused with absorption.
Flammable gasses need to reach a certain concentration before you get impressive flames. Various industries use specially-designed igniters to “burn off” flammable gasses, such as hydrogen, before they can reach dangerous levels. Here is an NRC paper detailing the use of such igniters in nuclear power plants.
Oh, why not?
Given the abyssmal state of scientific education, at least in the home country of the server, should we start with the difference between adsorption and absorption?
Because they are two completely different things.
Who said we’re starting with this? After all, we’ve been doing this since 1973. And besides, isn’t fighting ignorance the whole raison d’être of this website?
Oh, and the word is “abysmal.” 
For a strike-on-box match, the head is made from potassium chlorate and a binder and the striking surface is made from red phosphorus and a fine abrasive. Where does the sulfur come from? If you mix potassium chlorate and sulfur to make the match head, the compound would be very shock sensitive. In strike-anywhere matches, the tip is phosphorus sesquisulfide, but strike-on-box matches have the same effect vis-a-vis masking odors.
Rob