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Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Exodus on 29/05/2003 17:39:18

Title: Passing Wind
Post by: Exodus on 29/05/2003 17:39:18
A weird one... Anyone know why the gases we pass ourselves are never as offensive to us as one done by somebody else (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsmilies.crowd9.com%2Fcontrib%2Fedoom%2Ffart.gif&hash=b456f7dad39bae86f6073f093e230e35)... Is there a scientific reason, i'm truly serious?

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Donnah on 30/05/2003 00:16:43
You, serious!?!!  C'mon Exodus, we all know what a Russ Abbott clone...er fan you are!  Seriously, YOU should go into comedy.

That being said, the only answer I can think of is the old expression "a skunk never smells his own".
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Exodus on 30/05/2003 09:22:58
I was truly serious! i have honestly wondered why... Could it be psychological? As for comedy... i don't think there is much of a market for scientific comedians. [;)]

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Quantumcat on 30/05/2003 14:08:50
If there was a science comedy show on I know I would watch it[:D][:D][:D]

And Exie, you would make a great comedian![:)]

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Exodus on 30/05/2003 18:56:12
what did the spanish fireman call his two sons????

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: nilmot on 30/05/2003 19:23:14
Yeah Exodus you are a truth comedian, you have it in your blood.

And some how you'll always managed to find the right gif for your topic. Impressive!

Tom
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: chris on 31/05/2003 08:14:50
quote:
Originally posted by Exodus

what did the spanish fireman call his two sons????

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HOSE A AND HOSE B

<CRASH>

SORRY THAT WAS ME FALLING OF THE CHAIR WITH LAUGHTER !

<CRACK>

THERE GOES ANOTHER RIB INTO THE BARGAIN !

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Exodus on 31/05/2003 11:52:46
A classic joke! you know you love it!

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Donnah on 31/05/2003 18:56:19
A man driving down a highway sees a police car behind him put on its lights to stop.  He figures "aww, I can outrun this guy" and floors the accelerator.  Soon it becomes apparent that he can't outrun the police car and he pulls over.  A grouchy looking cop tells him "look mister, I've had a crumby day so if you can make me laugh, I'll let you go".  A few minutes later the man drives away happy, and the policeman is still standing beside the road, [8D]laughing[:D].

What did the man say?
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: roberth on 02/06/2003 07:46:09
I reckon he told the cop that his wife had left him for a police officer. He thought that the police car was chasing him to return her...
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Donnah on 02/06/2003 17:38:06
BINGO!
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Exodus on 02/06/2003 23:07:39
LOL

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Quantumcat on 03/06/2003 06:48:52
haha, that's a good one!

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Exodus on 03/06/2003 13:52:37
So any ideas about wind? We need an expert with a Phd in Flatulence!

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Quantumcat on 04/06/2003 01:37:07
When I do my PhD, I'll definitely not do it on this .... one word: ew! [:D]

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: chris on 04/06/2003 08:40:41
I think the answer to the fart question lies in perspective and instinct.

In the same way that when you hear a recording of your voice you know it's you, but you can't believe that you sound like that.

Similarly, when you are chatting with people you might meet someone with a really annoying voice (such as someone who has been watching too many Australian soap operas to the extent that they have now started inflecting their voice at the end of each sentence making everything they say sound like a question ! - sorry Quantum !)

But you don't find your own voice annoying, even if you are that person with the annoying way of speaking. Similarly, others in the room might find what you say is utter drivel, but you feel you are contributing pearls of wisdom (this complaint frequently affects pissed people).

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Donnah on 04/06/2003 23:27:07
Well then, Chris, we'll expect some real pearls of wisdom from you after you drink those 18 bottles of wine Richard brought back from France[;)]!

Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Quantumcat on 05/06/2003 03:52:35
lol Chris ... no offence taken, you made me laugh[:)]

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: jdelgado on 09/06/2003 22:11:07
Hello all, newbie here, obviously.  Anyway, to take a stab at the fart question, I believe people in general do not detect their own gas because their senses have become super saturated.  If you smell something long enough, you can't detect it anymore.  Just my 2 cents.  BTW, I get a kick out of all the topics here, from fart questions to "how many calories in semen"
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: chris on 09/06/2003 23:15:50
Welcome to the forum jdelgado !

I agree with your point about super-saturation, but that still ignores the crux of this question which is why other peoples' smell worse. Assuming the proximity is the same that is !

Chris



"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Donnah on 10/06/2003 02:15:26
Hi Jdelgado!

Welcome.  I see you came in through the "back door"[:o)].
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Qing on 11/06/2003 11:04:02
Hi, I'm only new here(as you can see),but I do have a question:-if it's really super-saturation why sometimes you can still smell it?

Qing
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Ians Daddy on 12/06/2003 21:49:05
I'd have to say that the poot that just left you was just seconds before a part of you. Your olfactory nerves are a part of you as well. For a lack of a better term, it's simply your flavor.
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: nilmot on 12/06/2003 22:58:29
What's super-saturation means?

Tom
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Quantumcat on 13/06/2003 00:32:54
Well, saturation is when there are too many of the molecules that are being dissolved for the water to keep them apart. Saturation is the point that the dissolved substance has exactly as many molecules as the water can possibly keep apart. I suppose super-saturation is when there are too many moleclues? I don't know really :-p

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Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: jdelgado on 13/06/2003 19:20:07
quote:
Originally posted by nilmot

What's super-saturation means?

Tom


 
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=supersaturated

I once heard my chemistry professor use a rose as an example.  At first the fragrance can be sensed.  After repeated/constant smelling of the rose, your senses become supersaturated and you can no longer detect the smell.
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: chris on 13/06/2003 20:06:49
Don't confuse 'saturation' and 'adaptation'.

The human body is wired up to respond to things that change. You can demonstrate this for yourself by fixing your eyes on the screen in front of you and staring hard at only one spot. No matter how tempting it is to look away keep on looking. Before long your visual scene will beging to lose integrity and the image will begin to degrade in front of your eyes. If you move them it is immediately restored. Yours eyes continuously move to refresh the visual stimulus hitting the retina to prevent this kind of degradation.

The same mechanisms that allow your retina to adapt to an unchanging visual scene are also in play in your nose, in your mouth and on your skin. Get into a hot bath and intially it feels too hot to tolerate. But after a matter of seconds you are 'used' to it, and shortly after you are reaching for the hot tap to make it hotter still. These are examples of adaptation; you can think of it as the kiddie who gets bored with something after a short time and then needs a new stimulus to occupy him.

The point of these mechanisms is that our brain couldn't possibly cope with the barrage of information hitting it if everything were signalled on an absolute, proportional scale. That is, if a nerve cell were to fire every second when you were at 5 degrees, then 2x per second at 10 degrees and so on, we'd suffer neurological meltdown, information overload...call it what you will.

Instead the nervous system is most 'interested' in when things change, the obvious evolutionary advantage being that if something is changing it could signal danger.

The abililty to detect that something is changing relies on you being able to detect how much of something is present. So the difference between a strong smell and a weak smell is down to the number of odourant molecules which make up that smell. The more molecules, the stronger the smell. THat is until all of the receptors in your nose which are sensitive to that smell are filled up with smell molecules. After that you can add as many smell molecules as you like but the smell won't appear to change because your receptors for that particular odourant are 'saturated'.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: chris on 16/06/2003 00:47:56
I'm sorry Quantum, but what I posted above is absolutely correct. Nerve cells habituate to change in a dynamic fashion, some rapidly, some more slowly. The same is true of the nose, taste, skin touch and temperature sensation.

In the context of the nose, of course the molecules diffuse away again, but under conditions of high concentration, like your seage farm, the olfactory receptors adapt to the continuous presence of the odourants, at whatever degree of receptor occupancy (saturating or not) and down-regulate their response.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Donnah on 18/06/2003 01:19:15
I used to work at a bovine embryo transfer centre.  Everyone said I smelled like antiseptic and cow manure until showering and changing clothes, but I never noticed the smell.  It was really handy though, because if I wanted to do banking or grocery shopping I just did it on my way home from work and, like magic, many people left the lineup that I was in, so I sailed right through[:D]!
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Ians Daddy on 18/06/2003 05:17:26
Ha ha ha...I'll have to remember that the next time I go to the bank. Now, where will I get some cow manure and antiseptic?
Title: Re: Passing Wind
Post by: Exodus on 18/06/2003 11:47:43
One of my best friends is a farmer, he did a work placement on a local cow farm for two weeks and popped by for some lunch one day... BOY did he stink!

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