Where does methane come from?

[s1m0n]

There was also some talk about trying to introduce those microbes into cows to reduce the amount of methane produced by ranching. I haven't heard anything since.

Being driven deaf by exploding ruminants was the sad fate for a once-promising musician...

Bullsh!t - the REAL man's IED.

[dwest]

I think what we are really talking about is "Silent but Deadly" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBzQr_J44oY

[Pammy]

fearfaoin explained it very well indeed. All that talk over peoples heads does nothing for me.
Sometimes you need people who are not biologists or chemists to explain things in easy to understand terms.
Just ask an IT person a simple question and you get rubbish back. I wanted to know what PPPoE stood for and the explanation included something along the lines of - well it's to do with PPP !!! Cheers mate!!

We need to gather the methane and use it with the resulting oxygen and hydrogen used for something usefull.
Perhaps I should study chemistry

I must look up about the f**ting dog that sounds fun.

It's still the funniest subject in the world.

There was an out take programme on TV where Peter Sellers as the Pink Panther had to go into a lift and someone windypopped.
They, of course, had to do umpteen takes as they were just in fits of laughter.

[SteveShaw]

fearfaoin explained it very well indeed. All that talk over peoples heads does nothing for me.
Sometimes you need people who are not biologists or chemists to explain things in easy to understand terms.
Just ask an IT person a simple question and you get rubbish back. I wanted to know what PPPoE stood for and the explanation included something along the lines of - well it's to do with PPP !!! Cheers mate!!

We need to gather the methane and use it with the resulting oxygen and hydrogen used for something usefull.
Perhaps I should study chemistry

Grand. I can't decide whether it's the cult of the philistine or the cult of the mediocre you subscribe to.

[talasiga]

......
Grand. I can't decide whether it's the cult of the philistine or the cult of the mediocre you subscribe to.

SS needs to get things in perspective.
Firstly this is a discussion forum.Therefore, if someone asks a question you should
give a straight, simple answer.
No deviations, extra info., personal insights, repartee, poetry or other banter.
Unimaginative answers are the best.
Attempting to correct something in someone's else's post is a SIN
And nothing deep, please - neither deeply silly nor meaningful.

[Denny]

I think that Pammy likes 'em banked off at least one rail

[Doug_Tipple]

Forgive me if I am way off base at this wee hour of the morning, but the the original question can be thought of as an existential question, where does methane come from? Yes, it does come from various forms of chemicals uniting to form a chemical compound. But in a more esoteric sense, there is a lot that we don't really know about the why's of chemical evolution. Why do we have the Universie with billions of stars and planetary bodies, such as our earth home, no one knows. It is a big mystery.

[s1m0n]

Forgive me if I am way off base at this wee hour of the morning, but the the original question can be thought of as an exestential question, where does methane come from? Yes, it does come from various forms of chemicals uniting to form a chemical compound. But in a more esotiric sence, there is a lot thet we don't really know about the why's of chemical evoltuion. Why do we have the Universie with billions of stars and planetary bodies, such as our earth home, no one knows. It is a big mysery.

"The universe is one big f*rt joke" is a cosmology worthy, if I may say so, of the great Pastafarian religion. Well done!

[kkrell]

"The universe is one big f*rt joke" is a cosmology worthy, if I may say so, of the great Pastafarian religion. Well done!

Well, they do call it the "Big Bang" theory.

[dwest]

Cosmic Farts and Burps have come close to wipping out life on earth mutiple times, it's no joke.

[Pammy]

Methane is an odourless, colourless, non-toxic gas, which is produced mostly as a result of anaerobic decay of organic matter. It is formed on or below the earth's surface (and in the guts of animals) - it's a constituent of natural gas, found with oil deposits - and once it's released into the atmosphere it gets into the upper regions by convection, mostly at the tropics. It is a very potent greenhouse gas, each molecule having many times the heat-trapping potential of that of a carbon dioxide molecule. Oxygen and water vapour are the enemies of methane, and the gas gradually breaks down in the atmosphere by oxidation processes. The amount of methane in the atmosphere has risen dramatically in the last couple of hundred years. Human contributions are mostly to blame, landfill sites and the proliferation of herbivorous farm animals being significant culprits. Any other process of decay that excludes oxygen is also likely to produce methane, even your compost heap, so things such as slurry lagoons, silage heaps and manure dumps will contribute significantly. The odour of a nice ripe f*rt is nothing to do with the methane present. You need to look in the direction of various sulphurous compounds to explain that. And I should add that methane cannot be regarded as an excretory product of humans or farm animals, any more than dietary fibre can, as it is not produced by metabolic processes within cells.

Thank you Talasiga. All the above "stuff" is totally off topic and irrelevant, and frankly just silly.
It looks like it is straight off of some internet site. I bet you used to cheat in your exams by copying the swat

As for philistine or mediocre. Just stop it Steve.

Denny, I don't know what that means. Would you explain it to me please.

[Nanohedron]

Though it's not toxic (a fact most counterintuitive), methane is an asphyxiant, as anyone who's been caught in a befarted elevator will attest.

[Pammy]

Does that mean that it will knock you out but do you no harm ?

[Denny]

[missy]

It looks like it is straight off of some internet site. I bet you used to cheat in your exams by copying the swat

As for philistine or mediocre. Just stop it Steve.
.

Actually, Steve GAVE the exams (he was a teacher).

And what he wrote made perfect sense to me. But I'm a chemist (with a minor in biology)......