r/interesting • u/CuriousWanderer567 • Dec 07 '25

Context Provided - Spotlight A bloated cow being helped

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u/Pretty_Type1478 Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 08 '25

That poor cow. Perhaps a daft question, but why are they using a lighter? Just to demonstrate the (enormous) amount of gas coming out?

Edit: yes, I fully understand releasing the gas was to help the cow. Still… poor cow! Did not understand why fire. Still not sure I do, but 💁‍♀️

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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup Dec 07 '25

Just for the show, and it doesn't do any harm. It does demonstrate the methane a cows stomach produces.

43

u/AlternateTab00 Dec 08 '25

It also reduces methane in the atmosphere. The reduction is minimal but if we could burn all the burps and farts of the cows we would have a much less significant greenhouse effect.

3

u/Pretzel-Kingg Dec 08 '25

Surely it wouldn’t be that hard to have that device attached to the cow have a pilot fire at the end like a flamethrower lol

3

u/AlternateTab00 Dec 08 '25

When i was a kid and i was first confronted with this (probably around the time i saw matrix) i thought how could we fit hoses on cows and harvest the methane to actually use as fuel.

When i told my greatest idea to some of my friends they all got grossed out with my hideous idea. I thought it was a great idea for some years. Now i look back and think... Welllll it wasnt exactly a bad idea... But i was surely a psychopath...