Experts expose truth behind 'fart' shown in viral infrared footage

Science has answered some of the great questions over the centuries.

The theory of evolution, general relativity, even taking us out into the stars have been the product of science's greatest exponents.

But now one question which has undoubtedly dominated the minds of many people has finally been answered.

And that question is, of course, whether a thermal imaging and an infrared camera is capable of picking up a fart in real time.

We've all probably wondered it at some point.

Anyway, the question began to cloud people's minds after a viral video appeared to show gas being expelled from someone's rear end on an infrared camera.

And naturally, people were worried that thermal imaging at airports for example might be able to tell exactly who dealt it.

Luckily for us, the team at Mythbusters decided to put this theory to the test.

Facebook / Mythbusters

To do this, they constructed a specially-made fart machine, a sentence which I'm sure delights the hearts of children of all ages, including this one.

But it wasn't quite as simple as just having something which would pump out air. It was designed to put out air at average temperature, so at around body temperature.

Once the team at Mythbusters had built their fart-machine, they were ready to begin the experiment.

The whoopee cushion where the air was coming out was, of course, scientifically essential, to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the findings.

They turned on the fart machine, pointed the camera at it, and let it rip.

Facebook / Mythbusters

And it turned out that, at least in the case of body temperature farts, the thermal imaging was not able to pick up the gas emanating from the 'Fart-o-matic' (patent pending).

This is because of the difference in temperature with the surrounding air, it was simply not big enough for it to be picked up, and it mingled too quickly.

But what about the video showing the fart?

Well, it turns out that you can make gas appear on thermal imagining, it just has to be either much hotter or much colder than the surroundings.

To demonstrate, Mythbusters took a can of compressed air and sprayed some of it out.

The much cooler air was clearly visible, and when the pipe was directed as though emanating from one's posterior, it did indeed give the impression that someone had let fly a backdoor breeze.

And if they wanted to be more realistic, then steam would have been a better option.

So, case closed.

It seems that when it comes to detecting the culprit, the old way of 'whoever smelt it, dealt it' is still the best.