ChatterBank1 min ago
Human poos - (sorry)
I am sorry if this question annoys or upsets anyone but I am genuinely interested and would like an answer to it.
Should human poos float or sink?
In a conversation with friends, 3 said that it was sink but one said that his have always floated - irrespective of what he eats or drinks. Any ideas?
I considered which category to put this question in to and reckoned you clever people in the science dept would be best placed to give me an explanation (with the minimum of silly answers!!).
Thanks
Answers
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.it all depends - but of course you could guess that. The water content is important, and also what the rest is. IF there is a high fat or lipid content it'll float, and if there is higher proportion of solids denser than water it'll sink. It depends on diet and health.
If you have any surgery that shortens the colon, the water content is always higher than normal and they will always float.
Looking at it and diagnosing diseases from it is called coproscopy - Looking at the urine and diagnosing form THAT, is the other sort and in the eighteenth century they were nick-named p+ss-prophets. P+ss prophets were not in the ascendant during George III's illness and so records of the Royal pee are not accurate - which is a pity because the discolouration on standing is important in extablishing porphyria.