RE: A queer habit
April 29, 2014 at 7:10 am
(This post was last modified: April 29, 2014 at 7:15 am by ManMachine.)
(April 29, 2014 at 6:30 am)sven Wrote:(April 29, 2014 at 6:20 am)ManMachine Wrote: Maybe he eats a lot of burnt matches.That would be... very strange?
MM
I'm guessing it's some misguided attempt to burn off residual methane gas and therefore the smell.
But methane rises in air, as anyone who's attempted to float a sneaky one past a partner will testify (don't act innocent, you know who you are), so by the time he's lit the match the methane has floated to the top of the restroom. Meanwhile, the match fumes;
P + O2 = 2 P2O5 Phosphorous Pentoxide (stable as P4O10)
Will rapidly react with moisture in the air to form
P4O10 + 6 H2O → 4 H3PO4 - droplets of phosphoric acid
The acid will fall to the ground leaving the carbon smoke from the burning wood from the match suspended in the air. So you walk into a layer of phosphorous acid droplets beneath carbon particulates (as wood smoke) under methane gas.
So when you hear the expression 'I'd give it 10 min before you go in there' now you know why.
MM
Flatuleology - a branch of science with the highest practitioner to expert ratio.
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
