BTW, If one was already profoundly hypothermic, would it be unwise to fart?

  • dgdft@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    The act of mixing fart into air is an exothermic process that does in fact explicitly generate heat. You can read up here if curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy_change_of_solution

    Granted, it’s not intuitive without getting deep into the weeds of thermodynamics, but when different molecules that are attracted to one another get mixed, that combined form is a state with lower chemical potential energy than the original substances would have if left separate. I.e. you’d need to invest energy to break up the intermolecular attractions if you wanted to re-separate the molecules. The potential energy “lost” in the process of mixing is extruded in the form of heat.

    I have a degree in physics and work in biomed R&D. I am a qualified fart scientist — this is what I live for.

      • dgdft@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Yeah, you’re right — there would be some cooling from pressure release.

        I might need to do some math tonight.

    • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
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      3 days ago

      Qualifies mixing of gases as dissolution?

      The energy change can be regarded as being made up of three parts: the endothermic breaking of bonds within the solute and within the solvent, and the formation of attractions between the solute and the solvent.

      Does not sound like mixing of gases. No bonds are broken. No bonds are formed. Just (almost) free molecules moving around.

      As my profession is solid mechanics, mixing of fluids is not my field of expertise.

      • dgdft@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        In a nutshell, the bonds in question are intermolecular forces, not bonds between atoms within a molecule.

            • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
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              2 days ago

              We are talking about mixing of gases, not the solution of a liquid in a gas or a solid in a liquid.

              Here, no bonding forces are broken as there are almost none active. Air as a mixture of gases at low pressure is, at least like I have learned in thermodynamics, treated as if its different components don’t interact with each other. For each component, the state equation is evaluated individually using its partial pressure.

        • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
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          2 days ago

          Of course. Otherwise this would qualify as a chemical reaction.

          I’d totally get it, if were taking about lets say vaporising of perfume or fuel. There, the bonding forces between the molecules of the liquid (van der Waals, H-bridges) are released, and thus stored energy is set free.

          • dgdft@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Yeah, that’s fair.

            I was focused on the marginal effect no matter how small, but you’re right that heat of solvation for gases is minuscule. I’m won over on the idea that it would be outweighed by cooling effect of gas expansion from fart decompression.

            • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
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              2 days ago

              I’m won over on the idea that it would be outweighed by cooling effect of gas expansion from fart decompression.

              Did you already find information on how much pressure a colon can sustain or maintain?