How Scientists Count Farts, Middle school

Dried beans in many colors at a farmers market

A fart is gas that leaves your body through your bottom. For many years, doctors said healthy people fart about 10 to 14 times a day.

Do you think healthy people fart more than 14 times a day?

I’m farting for science!

Dr. Raven joins a fart study at the University of Maryland. She wears a sensor on her underwear for three days, and the sensor counts her farts by the hydrogen gas in them. Old counts said people fart 10 to 14 times a day, and the sensor study found far more.

A colorized electron microscope image of a cluster of oblong E. coli bacteria, magnified 10,000 times — Inflate means to fill with air, like blowing up a balloon. Inflate comes from the same Latin root, *flāre*, “to blow.”

Your word of the day is

FLAY-tus

fla-to blowfrom Latin flāre

-tusthe act offrom Latin -tus

Gas made in the intestines and passed out of the body. Flatus is the science word for the gas in a fart.

A woman asleep in bed under blankets in morning light

A sensor clipped to underwear counted an average of 32 farts a day.

Why would people counting their own farts come up with fewer than a sensor clipped to underwear?

A labeled diagram of the human digestive system, from the mouth through the stomach and intestines

The Smart Underwear sensor Raven wore in the video detects hydrogen, a gas found in farts.

Where does the hydrogen gas in a fart come from?

Crowds of people walking across a street crossing in Tokyo

In the Smart Underwear study, the lowest count for one day was 4 farts. The highest count for one day was 59 farts.

Why do scientists count farts in lots of people before they say what’s normal?

Two scientists working side by side at computers in a laboratory

In the video, Raven asks, “What counts as a fart?” Scientists decide what counts before they start counting.

Why do scientists need to agree on what counts as one fart before they compare their numbers?

A hand-drawn line graph on paper with a metal ruler and two pens

Scientists can ask people to keep track of their own farts, or scientists can measure farts with a sensor.

Which gives scientists a better fart count, keeping track yourself or measuring with a sensor?

A digital clock glowing in a dark room late at night

Why does a sensor give a better count of farts than keeping track yourself?

A scientist at the National Cancer Institute studies DNA data on a computer

Lesson complete

Today’s word

flatus