BACK from school early. Had an early dismissed. No surprise from a typical neighbourhood school as I came back home on bus, and saw Dunearn and Swiss Cottage doing the same too.Anyway, that doesn't matter. I'm still gonna study later on. Revision on my ISPLs for the coming ISPL tests after all the fun in the coming 3 working days.
There is the Career Workshop on Monday, in which we are supposed to come to school in office attire. Still hadn't sort out on what to wear on that day. Then there is the greatly awaited HeArt of ISPL 2 on Tuesday. Can't wait for that. Gonna bring in my guitar! LOLs. But I'll need to find something to play and practice during this weekend. So that I'd have something to present with the guitar. Then there would be this Ultimate Race on Wednesday. Find it rather.. No particular word for it, however, it just doesn't seem right.
Skipping that, it shall be Chemistry Day-to-Day 101 with Clarence Liu!
Chemistry Day-to-Day 101.
Do you often have to pinch your nose when you enter the toilet to bear the attack of an unknown pungent smell rushing through your nose? Fear not now. As you are about to make use of basic Chemistry concepts to help you through this smelly experiences.
Should you ever visit the toilet and having finished your business. Get a matchstick from the kitchen or use a lighter and light it. I would personally prefer the use of a matchstick which wouldn't burn your hand and is better to view the effects later on. After you light a matchstick, hold it over the toilet bowl with your nose pinched. Notice ignited matchstick slowly dise out. After awhile as the smoke goes away, you would notice that the pungent smell from your faeces from your alimentary canal would disappear.
What happened?
When ignited, the Butyric acid in the fart that you produced is broken down. This cause the chemical properties to change and new compounds is formed. Thus eliminating the smell.
The gas that is produced along with your faeces is called Flatulence.
DO YOU KNOW.Nitrogen, the main constituent of air, is the primary gas released during flatulence, along with carbon dioxide which is present in higher quantities in those who drink carbonated beverages regularly.
The lesser component gases methane and hydrogen are flammable, and so flatus containing adequate amounts of these can be ignited. However, not all humans produce flatus that contains methane.
For example, in one study of the faeces of nine adults, only five of the samples contained archaea capable of producing methane. Similar results are found in samples of gas obtained from within the rectum.
The gas released during a flatus event frequently has an unpleasant odor which mainly results from low molecular weight fatty acids such as butyric acid (rancid butter smell) and reduced sulphur compounds such as hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg smell) and carbonyl sulphide that are the result of protein breakdown.
The incidence of odoriferous compounds in flatus increases from herbivores, such as cattle, through omnivores to carnivorous species, such as cats. Such odor can also be caused by the presence of large numbers of microflora bacteria and/or the presence of faeces in the rectum.
The major components of the flatus, which are odorless, by percentage are:
* Nitrogen - 20% - 90%
* Hydrogen - 0% - 50%
* Carbon Dioxide - 10% - 30%
* Oxygen - 0% - 10%
* Methane - 0% - 10%
Thus the smell of the flatulence does arrives from the presences of Butyric acid, Carbonyl Sulphide and Hydrogen Sulfide in it.
