If gas always rises, how can we fart?

rprussell2004
rprussell2004 Posts: 870 Member
in Chit-Chat
(This is a serious question, but I figured it would get a better reception here than in, say, the "Fitness and exercise" forum...)

Example:

If I put some, say, playdough into a ziploc with water and leave some air at the top before I zip it, it's a fair bet that the gas will be at the top, and the liquid will surround the solid, which will in turn most likely sink.

Let's pretend this is your colon! (Woooo!)

If I turn said ziploc upside down, it's an even BETTER colon: The exit is at the bottom now!

But I note that the gas stays at the top. No matter which direction I tilt this thing, the gas is at the top.

Now, let's pretend that my hands are the muscles, and play BOWEL MOVEMENT!

Whereas I might be able to (if I'm clever and lucky) squeeze the playdough out the bottom and keep the water from coming out, there is no way in HELL that I'm getting any of the gas out of there below the rest of it.

However - it is a demonstrable fact that I can (and usually will) pass gas long before I have to take a dump. This is less likely when I have diarrhea, but still occurs.

How on earth do my intestines manage to reverse gravity and coax that gas down to the exit, while leaving the solids and liquids waiting their turn?

Replies

  • jg627
    jg627 Posts: 1,221 Member
    Uh... 42.
  • Birdie
    Birdie Posts: 256 Member
    Eww. Could you imagine the taste and bad breath if it came out your mouth. Thank God for his perfect design!
  • mariapuhl
    mariapuhl Posts: 529 Member
    You know how it's always easier when you lift your butt slightly up off the chair? Maybe because then it's more of an upward facing hole it comes out easier. When you're walking it'd be more sideways than straight down.... I don't know.. I'm rambling.
  • agriffiths73
    agriffiths73 Posts: 108 Member
    I just walk around on my hands!
  • Julescg26
    Julescg26 Posts: 260 Member
    The solids form a blockage so as that moves through your intestines it pushes the gases out first???? as for the liquids they are reabsorbed on the way through!

    Just a guess!
  • _the_feniks_
    _the_feniks_ Posts: 3,412 Member
    Farts come from your small and large intestines . If your plumbing was messed up... rising gas would be the least of your worries.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    peristalsis?

    Also, your intestines don't lie in a vertical line.
  • rprussell2004
    rprussell2004 Posts: 870 Member
    Eww. Could you imagine the taste and bad breath if it came out your mouth. Thank God for his perfect design!

    O_o

    IMO a perfect design wouldn't involve gas at all. Or waste.

    I'm thinking (because this is not the only place I've posed this Q...) that JesterMFP has the right idea.

    Peristalsis + sometimes the intestines go UP means that they can sort out the various... bits.. of stuff... in different stages as it goes along.

    Also Julescg has an excellent point, in that in a properly working system, the liquid doesn't make it to the end.
  • amp187
    amp187 Posts: 374
    Gas actually doesn't always rise. Gas is a fluid and will flow from high density areas to low density areas. Your gastrointestinal tract creates a higher core pressure so the gas is forced to travel to the lower pressure areas.
    In this case, your *kitten*.
  • rprussell2004
    rprussell2004 Posts: 870 Member
    Gas actually doesn't always rise. Gas is a fluid and will flow from high density areas to low density areas. Your gastrointestinal tract creates a higher core pressure so the gas is forced to travel to the lower pressure areas.
    In this case, your *kitten*.

    Gas in an enclosed space with gravity, a solid and a liquid... I can't imagine any situation where the gas wouldn't float to the top.

    Have to be an.. (heh heh) A$$LOAD (heh heheh) of pressure to get around gravity.

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