A lot of people keep a candle or just some matches in the bathroom to light after a number two. How does that work in order to remove the smell?
In: Chemistry
Matches smell strongly, particularly when put out, so I guess they mask bad smells. I don’t buy that they ‘burn up’ methane from farts etc, low concentrations wouldn’t burn.
Because poop releases methane the theory is the match or candle burns up your methane without exploding it thus eliminating the odor. In theory anyways
The answer is that it does nothing to the offensive odor itself, only masks it with a stronger odor, that of sulfur and other chemicals, or aromatic oils in the case of a candle.
the big plume of sulfur dioxide from a freshly-lit match simply overwhelms your sense of smell. you can’t smell anything else.
Fire creates convection current. In a closed space, this circulates the air rapidly, dispersing and diluting any airborne particles equally rapidly.
It makes a sulfer smell that is good smelling to cover the sulfur smell that is bad smelling
Matches just mask the smell: the sulfur/phosphorus smell of the match stuns your olfactory sensors, and makes it harder to detect the poop smell.
Lighting a candle does purge the air in the room in a surprisingly short time. A typical visible candle flame is about 8mm across and has a flow rate of about 1-2m/s, which would take a couple of million seconds (a couple of weeks) to fully process the air in a small bathroom. But it disperses carbon radicals and nanoparticles of carbon and wax into the air as it burns, in addition to any aroma/scent added by the manufacturer. Those nanoparticles can bind other scent molecules, rendering them more inert as far as your nose goes. It might only take a kilosecond (20 minutes) for those to effectively absorb the odors in a small poop-smelling bathroom.
This was a long time ago, but somehow stuck with me: 9th grade Chemistry teacher said that in the process of carbonizing, the match absorbes the bad smells.
It’s supposed to make you burn to death. You’ll never need to deal with those smells ever again.
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