The Straight Dope 09/09/2005

DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, WE'RE A LITTLE TARDY TODAY.  OUR APOLOGIES.

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 09/09/2005

Dear Cecil:

Some background. When I was a kid growing up in the late
50s-early 60s, one of the things we used to do was induce
ourselves to fart by sticking the nozzle of a bicycle
hand pump into our behinds and giving ourselves several
pumps of air. We would then get close to another kid and
open the floodgate. Although the scent wasn't potent, the
sound was still funny. After we'd done this a few times,
we learned to generate different kinds of sounds, ranging
from a sudden burst like a sonic boom to high-pitched
sound like that of an out-of-tune trumpet.

Now my question. I heard that some kids or maybe
grown-ups got daring and instead of a hand pump used a
compressed air hose. The sudden injection of
high-pressure gas at hundreds of pounds per square inch
into the intestines caused rupture and internal bleeding.
I heard there were documented cases of deaths from this
type of dangerous entertainment. Tell me it's not true!
--Bill Sabalburo, San Juan, La Union, Philippines

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Cecil replies:

What do you want to be told isn't true? That nobody has
died from injecting high-pressure air up their bums for
the purpose of inducing farts? If so, you're in luck--I
couldn't find any fart-induction fatalities in the case
reports. Fact is, I couldn't find much on recreational
flatulence, period. However, if we turn to the wider
question of whether a keisterful of compressed air can
kill you, it sure can. The first case reported in the
medical literature, in 1904, involved a 17-year-old UK
male who was brought to the infirmary in pain after
having "got blown up with an air force-pump." The account
is not very informative on how this occurred, and you
probably don't want to hear a lot of details anyway.
Suffice it to say that the guy's guts ruptured in
multiple locations, spilling the intestinal contents into
the abdominal cavity; peritonitis presumably set in, and
three hours after admission he was dead.

That happened quite a bit in the old days. . . 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050909.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #1 - 12/20/1985

Dear Cecil:  

I've always wanted to know why there are holes
in the prongs in electrical plugs. My guess is that
a small rod, inserted through the holes, could lock an
appliance into the socket. This could prevent such
domestic disasters as having to get behind the fridge to
plug it back in when the plug falls out. However, I have
never seen this put into practice. What's the straight
dope? --Daniel S., Chicago  

Cecil replies:  

You will be distressed to learn this, Dan, but I dunno. 
Engineers have been sticking holes in the prongs of plugs 
for so long--there is an undercurrent of sexual imagery here
that I am studiously going to ignore--that they have
forgotten why they started. An expert at Underwriters
Laboratories says the holes are a by-product of the
manufacturing process: they're needed to hold the prongs
in place while the plastic part of the plug is molded
around them. A guy from General Electric, however, says
the purpose of the holes is to dissipate the heat
generated by the flow of electricity. The UL guy says the
GE guy is nuts. A third engineer from a smaller
electrical manufacturing firm agrees with the UL guy. He
says originally there were little nubbins inside
the--ahem--"female" connector (i.e., the socket) that
clicked onto the holes when the plug was shoved in to
keep it from pulling out. (UL won't OK a socket if a plug
comes out with a pull of less than three pounds.) But
nubbins aren't needed anymore because of improved socket
design, and now the holes are just a manufacturing
convenience. Two-thirds of the voters thus opt for
convenience, so I guess we'll have to go with that. I've
heard of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle before, but
this is ridiculous.  

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_389.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #2 - 10/11/1985

Dear Cecil: 

If you're riding in an airplane and sitting in the seat
next to the wing exit and the sign on the door says "Push
lever to open in emergency," can you just push the lever
to open at any old time around 30,000 feet up? If so,
shouldn't they carefully screen the people they put next
to the wing exits? We need to know. --Byron, Greg, Janice
& Paula, Chicago  

Cecil replies:  

Don't panic, gang. If you'll look closely next time you're on
a plane, you'll notice that the emergency exits--they're not so
much doors as removable window plugs--open in, not out. When
the plane is on the ground (which is when you're supposed
to use the exits), that doesn't matter much, because the
air pressure is equal on both sides. But when the plane
is at cruising altitude, the inside (cabin) pressure is
so much greater than the outside pressure that you'd have
to have superhuman strength to pull the exit open. Let's
say the window plug measures 18 by 36 inches. The cabin
pressure in a typical commercial aircraft is about seven
pounds per square inch. At 35,000 feet atmospheric
pressure outside is about three and a half pounds per
square inch. This means that to get the exit open you'd
have to overcome a net outward pressure of more than
2,200 pounds, or more than a ton. Fat chance. The same
thing applies to the plane's regular doors. In most
commercial aircraft the doors open outward, but they're
designed in such a way that they have to be popped in a
smidge before they can be swung out. As with the
emergency exits, cabin pressure prevents the doors from
being opened when the plane is at cruising altitude. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_390.html

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