[Gazeboss]

I've been thinking long and hard about this question, which is related to the farting discussion. The last time I started a thread on this back in 2001, the thread got deleted. So I'm going to try to sneak this one in, silently and balanced on one haunch perhaps, under the radar.

Fart gas is lighter than air, I think - it has a fair bit of methane and other organic gases that evolve from the breakdown of your intestinal contents.

So if you fart, you're expelling something lighter-than-air from your body.

Now picture this. You're standing on a scales which is very sensitive and is able to detect minute changes of weight. You feel one coming and you tell your friends to observe a moment of silence as you grab your arse cheeks and let 'er rip.

After a few minutes' applause, followed by fanning and opening windows, you check the scales.

Would the reading go down or go up? Would you have lost weight (by ejecting gaseous material from your body) or would you have gained weight (by jettisoning lighter-than-air material from your body)?

This is going to keep me up all night, I can tell.