When I first saw this video online a couple years ago I was simultaneously horrified and fascinated...
...until I realized that it was most likely fake, since infrared or thermographic flatulence would appear to be the same hue or color as the body, if not lighter, wouldn't it? Plus if it were real, the sheer volume was disturbing and that subject would surely have some major intestinal issues that might even require hospitalization. After a quick google search, I was confronted with the disappointment that it was indeed fraudulent flatulence. Can't one trust the internet anymore?
And THENI saw this animated GIF on a web forum the other day, which re-ignited the same sense of shock and awe that I had felt years before, only at least this color representation seemed more realistic and plausible:
But the location of the emission seemed a little too high, and I had already been burned once before, so I went on another web search to see if I could verify the authenticity. Alas, I couldn't locate the source, even with the tantalizing clues that this video apparently aired on NBC and The Travel Channel? What the what?
And THEN I found this sadly static image, which has a slightly more respectable attribution than any of the previous examples, having apparently come from SciencePhotos.com:
But how can you ever know for sure? So I tried researching the origins of the image or the lab/photographer that captured it, but authentication still eluded me. Seriously, with the abundance of information available at my fingertips within the world wide web, this shouldn't be so difficult, should it?
And THEN I realized I was spending way too much time investigating farts on the intarwebs and I shuddered in self-disgust as my eyes welled up with bitter tears of regret. But I ignore my pride and pass these findings along to you in the name of science. Make of it what you will and take from it what you can.
i think the nbc/travel channel clip is from an episode of SNL with Hugh Laurie when they are investigating ghosts with thermal imaging cameras, and then he farts but everyone thinks it's just the ghost until they examine the thermal imagery and discover it was his fart . . . so no, it's not "real" thermal evidence of flatulance at all.
I always worry that when it's really cold outside, and you can see your breath, that if I fart, people behind me will see my fart cloud from the hot air hitting the cold air. Seriously.
