Fart lighting

An attempted fart lighting

Fart lightning or pyroflatulence is the practice of igniting the gases produced by human flatulence, often producing a flame of a blue hue, hence the act being known colloquially as a "blue angel", or in Australia, a "blue flame". The fact that flatus is flammable, and the actual combustion of it through this practice, gives rise to much humourous derivation. Other colors of flame such as orange and yellow are possible with the color dependent on the mixture of gases formed in the colon.

Although there is little scientific discourse on the combustive properties of flatus, there are many anecdotal accounts of flatus ignition and the activity has increasingly found its way into popular culture with references in comic routines, movies, and television; including cartoons.

Chemistry

The composition of flatus varies dramatically among individuals. Flatulence produces a mixture of gases with the following six as major components:

• carbon dioxide,
• hydrogen,
• hydrogen sulfide,
• methane,
• nitrogen,
• oxygen.

Methane burns in oxygen forming water and carbon dioxide often producing a blue hue (ΔH_c = -891 kJ/mol), as:

CH₄(g) + 2O₂(g) → CO₂(g) + 2H₂O(g)

Hydrogen sulfide also combusts (ΔH_c = -519 kJ/mol) to

2H₂S(g) + 3O₂(g) → 2SO₂(g) + 2H₂O(g)

The odor associated with flatus is due to hydrogen sulfide, skatole, indole, volatile amines and short chain fatty acids. These substances are detectable by olfactory neurons in concentrations as low as 10 parts per billion, hydrogen sulfide being the most detectable.

Gas production

Some of the gases are produced by bacteria which live in symbiosis within the large intestines of humans and other mammals. The gases are created as a by-product of the bacteria's digestion of food into relatively simpler substances. The oxygen and nitrogen component of flatus can be accounted for by aerophagy, while the CO₂ component results from the reaction of stomach acids (HCl) with pancreatic bile (NaHCO₃).

Flammability

Because the methane, hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen present are flammable, igniting the resulting gases can result in burns or explosions as well as the desired flame. Clothing, hair or skin may catch fire and sensitive tissues can be damaged.

Technique and safety

The act of fart lighting is performed by using an open flame such as a candle or a cigarette lighter. There are web sites on the internet devoted exclusively to explaining proper lighting techniques. Common problems reported are severe and painful burns around and about the anus. Reports of serious burns to body parts are not uncommon but clothing helps to protect one's skin. Wearing pants (e.g. thick cotton sweatpants) is a good safety precaution. As with all fire stunts, cotton clothes (particularly if damp), or even better, wool, are safer than synthetics. The fire point of cotton is 210 °C (410 °F), and it is hard to ignite accidentally. But many common synthetic fabrics such as polyester fleece or nylon can easily catch fire or melt to the skin. Many experienced fart lighters suggest that denim be worn during the process of fart lighting; due to its thickness, it usually does a good job of protecting the skin from burns. Performing fart lighting in only underwear, in synthetic clothing (e. g. track pants), or no clothing at all could result in serious burns to the anus, scrotum, or vulva.

Motivations

The manly art of fart-burning. Compression, ignition, combustion and exhaust.

—Frank Zappa

Fart lighting has been a novelty practice primarily among young men or college students for decades, but is discouraged for its potential for causing injury. Such experiments typically occur on camping trips and in single-sex group residences, such as tree-houses, dormitories, or fraternity houses. With the advent of video sharing features online, hundreds of self-produced videos, both documentary as well as spoof, have been posted to sites such as YouTube. The people appearing in the videos are predominantly young males. In his book The Curse of the Self: Self-Awareness, Egotism, and the Quality of Human Life author Mark Richard Leary explains how a great deal of unhappiness is due to people's inability to exert control over their thoughts and behavior and that "stupid stunts", including lighting flatulence, were a way to make an impression and be included in group bonding or hazing.

In popular culture

Many find a comedic value in fart lighting and the activity is increasingly represented in pop culture possibly because "for adults, the allure of the vulgar is regressionary and often secretly pleasurable."

• In the film Dumb and Dumber, Lloyd (Jim Carrey) successfully lights a fart as part of a grandiose daydream/fantasy sequence.

• Radio personality Howard Stern, dubbed a shock jock for his controversial use of scatological humor on The Howard Stern Show, cites a fart-lighting scene for losing his popular show's first NBC affiliate when WGIT in Hartford canceled the show. The Flaming Gerbil Legend was reported by Robert D. Raiford on the John Boy and Billy radio show.

• In the 1999 episode "Spontaneous Combustion" of the adult animated series South Park, spontaneous human combustion is attributed to people's flatulence acting as the ignition. The entire town is admonished to not to hold in their flatulence even in social situations where the practice could be inappropriate. It was also featured in the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

• A Bud Light 2004 Super Bowl commercial featured a horse-drawn carriage in which a couple is building romance and the man hands a woman a lit candle. While he leans down to retrieve a Bud Light, the horse farts; the gases, ignited by the candle flame, cause an explosion and we see the results of the woman's "blown out" hair and soot-covered face. At the end of the commercial, a passer-by refers to it as a "Rocket Sleigh".

• At the beginning of the episode, "Thai Food" of the web series Jake and Amir, Amir is seen holding a lit lighter and trying to pass flatulence. But his attempts are short-lived for his co-worker, Jake, walks into the room, confronting him about a folder that supposedly is a "menu to a Thai food restaurant."

• In the movie Cedar Rapids, Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly) lights a fart during the final credits.

• In the movie Beavis and Butt-head Do America, in the deserts of Nevada, Butthead's father lights his fart with a campfire to create a monumental explosion.

Patents

In May 2000, a U.S. patent was issued for a "Toy gas fired missile and launcher assembly", a product that would allow one's "colonic gases" to be stored for later ignition to "fire the missile into space."

See also

• Goldfish swallowing
• Panty raid
• Phonebooth stuffing
• Toilet papering

External links

• Videos of Fart Lighting on YouTube