Let Your Tooter Toot! It's National Pass Gas Day!

Passing gas is one of those things that will make anyone giggle, from children to adults. Every January 7th is set aside to celebrate...flatulence!

The technical term for the gas that builds up is flatus, and when someone passes it out of their body we say they have flatulence. The word "fart" was thought up in 1632; it means "to send forth wind from the anus," and comes from the Old English word "feortan," which means "to break wind."

Did you know that farts can travel at speeds of about 10 feet per second, (that’s almost 7 miles per hour)? On average, people fart about 14 times a day, producing enough gas to fill up a balloon. This means everyone will have multiple opportunities to fully celebrate National Pass Gas Day today.

A mixture of gases creates farts - nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, sulfur dioxide, and methane. About 99% of gas is odorless, but the other 1% can really stink up any room. The component of farts that stinks is usually sulfurous. Common gases that give it its smell include dimethyl sulfide, methanethiol, and hydrogen sulfide. While vegetables and beans produce gas that may not smell, foods like eggs and meat have a higher sulfur content and help produce smellier farts.

True story…I once had a friend that would put her farts in a bottle to open them upon her unsuspecting friends, unleashing a horrendous smell permeating the friend’s nose with stench. It only took that happening once for me to know her trick and avoid her when she finished off a soda bottle!

If your kids want to learn all about flatulence or gas, check out some of the books below that were our family favorites!

I don’t know when it began, but now we celebrate the day annually on January 7. It is a day set aside to giggle at our goofy-sounding bowels and create awareness of the importance of passing gas.