Flatulence
Flatulence (commonly known as Farting or passing gas) is when gas leaves the anus. This sometimes happens with a sound that can be embarrassing to some people, but in some cultures it is treated like humor. The word flatulence comes from the Latin word flatus, which means blowing or breath, but people today usually call it farting. Children normally pass gas 30 times a day as their digestive system is not fully developed. Adults on the other hand only let wind approximately 15 times a day.
In mammals like humans, the gases come from two sources: swallowed air (for example, while eating, talking or drinking) and gases naturally created by bacteria in the body during digestion. Of the gases that come out during flatulence, most of it is nitrogen (which has the chemical formula N 2 and makes up between 21% to 89% of all the gases), followed by hydrogen (H₂), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), oxygen (O 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ).
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