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Does falling air pressure induce flatulence

  • 20-11-2019 5:21am
    #1
    SlowBlowin
    Registered Users Posts: 1,884 ✭✭✭


    Firstly this is a genuine (I have had a few beers) question, and I know I will get grief for posting this is weather forum but it seemed the most appropriate place, AH would have been a non starter.

    All day today I have been farting, and I later noticed that all members of my family are likewise afflicted. I thought we might have eaten something, but the lad has been at school and both myself and the wife eat totally different things.

    Just now it dawned on me and I checked the air pressure, its been falling steadily all day. The farting mechanism is just 2 chambers (you and the outside world) connected via a valve (sphincter), the only variables being outside/inside pressure and the max pressure of the value (which varies and reduces with age/use), so a reduction in outside air pressure must make a noticeable difference.

    Anyone else farting a lot today ? Is farting a sign of stormy weather, I googled it could not find anything ?


Comments

  • #2
    ZX7R
    Registered Users Posts: 3,426 ✭✭✭ZX7R


    It's all down to slow blowing , to tell you the truth.


  • #3
    Rikand
    Registered Users Posts: 20,336 ✭✭✭✭Rikand


    Changes in air pressure definitely do lots of strange things to the body. My sinuses go into overdrive when there has been frequent rapid changes in air pressure. Stands to reason that other parts and processes of the body, particularly those where a cavity is used to transport large volumes of material, could also be affected


  • #4
    M.T. Cranium
    Registered Users Posts: 14,319 ✭✭✭✭M.T. Cranium


    Beans. 99.9%

    Changes in air pressure. 0.1%


  • #5
    Gaoth Laidir
    Registered Users Posts: 8,219 ✭✭✭Gaoth Laidir


    There is absolutely no connection with your flatulence and any pressure falls yesterday. Pressure dropped slowly by around 7 hPa throughout the past 24 hours. That is nothing. It the same as driving up a 60-metre hill or going up 20 floors in a lift. I don't think people start farting wildly after either of these two things.

    The recent cold spell has meant that the dewpoint has been very low. This leads to very low relative humidity indoors, which can lead to things like dehydration and nosebleeds. This is a primary cause for changes, not air pressure. I hear people using pressure as a driver without actually realising how many pressure change they go through every day of their lives (even walking upstairs is almost half a hPa right there).


  • #6
    stoneill
    Registered Users Posts: 3,610 ✭✭✭stoneill


    Did you ever have a fart in an airplane at 35,000 feet? Longer more sustained gas emissions.
    So there probably is some truth to falling air pressure and flatulence levels.


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  • #7
    Gaoth Laidir
    Registered Users Posts: 8,219 ✭✭✭Gaoth Laidir


    stoneill wrote: »
    Did you ever have a fart in an airplane at 35,000 feet? Longer more sustained gas emissions.
    So there probably is some truth to falling air pressure and flatulence levels.

    No, I've not, and I'm glad others don't seem to either as it would be something else to have 180 people farting inside an aluminium tube.

    The pressure drops to around 700 hPa in an airliner during cruise, which is around the pressure at the top of a 3000-metre mountain. I've never been skiing, but again, I don't think people start farting wildly on the bus up to the sky resort.


  • #8
    Gaoth Laidir
    Registered Users Posts: 8,219 ✭✭✭Gaoth Laidir


    Out of interest I recorded the cabin pressure on a Ryanair flight a few months ago using the Physics Toolbox Suite app on my phone and plotted the results. The lowest pressure it got to was actually 753 hPa, after taking off from pressure of 1019 hPa. Interesting was the 5-hPa increase in cabin pressure during the takeoff roll as the engines spooled up, but it gradually dropped off during the climb to I think it was 38,000 ft.

    495676.png


  • #9
    SlowBlowin
    Registered Users Posts: 1,884 ✭✭✭SlowBlowin


    Gaoth Laidir wrote: »
    I don't think people start farting wildly on the bus up to the sky resort.

    But life would be funnier it they did...


  • #10
    SlowBlowin
    Registered Users Posts: 1,884 ✭✭✭SlowBlowin


    Gaoth Laidir wrote: »
    The recent cold spell has meant that the dewpoint has been very low. This leads to very low relative humidity indoors, which can lead to things like dehydration and nosebleeds.

    Well at least I have learnt something. I have been puzzled as the RH inside has been pinned at 45% for days. I wondered why, we normally have to run a dehumidifier, thanks.


  • #11
    IAMAMORON
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,078 ✭✭✭IAMAMORON


    Please move this to after hours. It has the potential to be one of the all time greats.


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  • #12
    sideswipe
    Registered Users Posts: 2,431 ✭✭✭sideswipe


    stoneill wrote: »
    Did you ever have a fart in an airplane at 35,000 feet? Longer more sustained gas emissions.
    So there probably is some truth to falling air pressure and flatulence levels.

    Did you ever bring a sealed bag of crisps on an airplane? If a sealed bag reacts like that surly intestines would react in a similar way?

    Interestingly our sense of smell decreases on an airplane so I guess its swings and roundabouts.


  • #13
    spookwoman
    Registered Users Posts: 9,922 ✭✭✭spookwoman


    Blaming the air pressure for your farts thats a new one, it's usually the dog or cat that gets blamed.


  • #14
    SlowBlowin
    Registered Users Posts: 1,884 ✭✭✭SlowBlowin


    spookwoman wrote: »
    Blaming the air pressure for your farts thats a new one, it's usually the dog or cat that gets blamed.

    The dog had flatulence too, all members of the household were affected.


  • #15
    Scammell
    Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭Scammell


    sideswipe wrote: »
    Did you ever bring a sealed bag of crisps on an airplane? If a sealed bag reacts like that surly intestines would react in a similar way?

    I haven’t had crisps today - yet my intestines appear very surly!!!




    exits stage left - fast......


  • #16
    sideswipe
    Registered Users Posts: 2,431 ✭✭✭sideswipe


    Scammell wrote: »
    I haven’t had crisps today - yet my intestines appear very surly!!!




    exits stage left - fast......

    Freudian slip! :)


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