Farting More After Eating Beans: Why Does it Happen?

  • Thread starter Thread starter lee121
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
Baked beans increase flatulence due to oligosaccharides like raffinose and stachyose, which are not absorbed in the small intestine and instead ferment in the large intestine. This fermentation process produces gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, leading to increased flatulence. The discussion humorously explores the potential of harnessing fart gases for energy, questioning whether smelly farts contain more energy than non-smelly ones. It highlights that methane, a primary component of farts, is combustible and could theoretically be used to power engines, although natural gas is more readily available. A trial comparing different brands of beans suggests that Aldi beans may produce more gas than Heinz. The conversation also includes a light-hearted experiment involving compressing farts for use in a model car, reflecting a blend of scientific curiosity and humor.
lee121
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Why do I fart more when I eat Beans?
 
Biology news on Phys.org
http://flatulencecures.com/baked-beans-fart

The way baked beans make you fart starts with oligosaccharides such as raffinose and stachyose. These carbohydrates are made of molecules that are too large to be absorbed in our small intestine during digestion. Instead they pass through to the large intestine intact.

While the digestive processes of the small intestine cannot usually breakdown oligosaccharides, the bacteria in our colon thrive on them. A meal high in raffinose, stachyose and other oligosaccharides like beans, will invariably lead to an increase in certain bacteria in the lower intestine.This process of breaking down the soluble fiber also produces large amounts of hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas. All of which increases flatulence, often significantly to say the least.
 
So how many farts would it take to power a motorbike for one mile? and would there be more energy in a smelly fart rather than just wind?
 
What do you think?
 
Not sure that's why I am asking the question
 
How do you think you could find out the answer? Perhaps as a starting point you could look at the gases involved.
 
Propelling a motorbike using Hydrogen would probably be a little dangerous, but used in a confined space and strictly monitored, might produce good results.

What gases are produced when Hydrogen is burned?
 
lee121 said:
What gases are produced when Hydrogen is burned?

2H2(g) + O2(g) → 2H2O(g)

In other words you get water.
 
Woww really? I think I am onto something here.

If you did a smelly fart in a bottle and opened it 1 year later. would it still be smelly?
 
  • #10
Tell you what, Beans are truly a magical food, they could save the planet
 
  • #11
Do you seriously believe that farts could be collected enough to fuel transport or are you just joking here?
 
  • #12
Why not? Humans farting are destroying the ozone layer, if we could harness the gases and compress them into canisters, then not are we saving the world but also producing a gas that could power transport and also save the world.

I was just wondering how many farts would take to power a motor bike for a mile?
 
  • #13
That's why I asked, does a smelly fart contain more energy than a windy one? Hence; eating more beans to create more smelly farts.
 
  • #14
There is absolutely NO correlation between smell and power.
 
  • #15
Methane (similar to natural gas from the ground), and not hydrogen, is the main combustable gas in a fart, it produces water and CO2 when burned.
Internal combustion engines can be configured to run on mainly methane, however since natural gas is abundant there is no need to obtain an additional supply from biological waste of any kind.
Hydrogen sulphide (also present in natural gas), is the main smelly gas, it too is combustable and produces water and SO2, (also somewhat smelly)
 
Last edited:
  • #16
Good news, Did a trial on the best beans to produce the best farts and it seems Aldi beans have the edge over Heinz beans. Methane gas is expensive to source, farts are many and free so will continue with me experiment.

Anyway have compress farts into a chamber and will try it out tomorrow with a model Grifter 4 x 4 model car, will keep you updated on the results
 
  • #17
I've stopped believing this is anything but a joke.
 
  • Like
Likes Qwertywerty
Back
Top