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A recent comment pointed out you can't burp in zero-g, while we don't have anything here about it, a Google search seems to support the comment.

If you spin your body, in theory you could overcome the lack of gravity issue with centrifugal force. Plausibly causing gas bubbles to gather as desired. By positioning your arms, legs and or adding extra weight, you might even be able to influence where in your body they gather, in effect controlling which end of the digestive track the gas would exit.

Is this plausible?

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James Jenkins
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    To be effective, it would probably be unpleasant, because your stomach is relatively close to your c.g., so you couldn't just spin around "naturally". To get an effective burp prepared, you'd have to use your hands (with arms extended above head) as the center of rotation. – Organic Marble Mar 24 '17 at 17:01
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    If it were a burping contest - you could add the reduced-gravity-sports tag :) – uhoh Mar 25 '17 at 01:13

1 Answers1

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We all swallow several times a minute . This is necessary since we produce over a liter of saliva a day. If you are not drooling, you must be swallowing. Each swallow carries a small amount of air with it, so our GI tract is getting a steady trickle of air.

The swallowed air will equilibrate with gas partial pressures in the gut tissues and capillaries. And also with the gas partial pressures in the bloodstream. Then the gasses will equilibrate with the inhaled air in the lungs.

Oxygen is very soluble in blood due to all the hemoglobin. It is also consumed by gut tissues, so it is rapidly cleared from the gut cavity.

Nitrogen and Argon make up most of the rest of the swallowed air. They do not have nearly as high a solubility in blood as oxygen. So if you swallow unusually large volumes of air (for instance, because you are nervous or speed-chewing gum) nitrogen can build up in your gut causing bloating and farting.

Gas (like methane) can also be produced in the gut by fermentation. Blame the beans.

What happens to CO2 from a can of Coke? CO2 is extremely soluble in blood because it is carried by hemoglobin, just like oxygen is. Any CO2 which gets past the stomach into the small intestine is rapidly absorbed through the gut wall and carried by the bloodstream to the lungs. Here it is exhaled along with the CO2 created by the body’s respiration.

Coke dosen’t make you fart. On Earth or in Heaven.

A centrifuge may help you burp in space but is unnecessary to prevent flatulence from carbonated beverages.

Woody
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