{"id":17867,"date":"2019-09-10T03:17:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T03:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=17867"},"modified":"2019-09-11T08:56:37","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T08:56:37","slug":"curious-kids-why-do-burps-make-noise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/curious-kids-why-do-burps-make-noise\/","title":{"rendered":"Curious Kids: Why do burps make noise?"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Saffouri<\/a>, University of California, Riverside<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Curious Kids<\/a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Why does burping make noise? \u2013 Henry E., age 8, Somerville, Massachusetts<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Burping is a normal part of everyday life.<\/p>\n

Burps happen when air<\/a> from your stomach travels back up your food tube \u2013 called an esophagus \u2013 to your mouth. Air gets into your stomach during activities like eating or drinking. If you drink things that contain lots of gas \u2013 like the carbon dioxide in bubbly sodas, for example \u2013 you\u2019ll probably burp more than usual since the gas you swallowed has to come back out somehow.<\/p>\n

Burping is important. If you don\u2019t let the air in your stomach up and out, it heads down deeper into your digestive system. It can cause a lot of bloating and discomfort in your intestines.<\/p>\n

That explains why people burp<\/a>. But why does a burp make noise?<\/p>\n

As the burp travels up the esophagus, it hits up against a closed, valve-like structure called a sphincter. Trapped behind that sphincter muscle, the gas builds up a lot of pressure.<\/p>\n

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A burp is gas that\u2019s risen up to your mouth from your stomach via your esophagus. The sphincter at the top of your esophagus is like a gate that either keeps that gas in or lets it free.<\/span>
\nTimonina\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s really hard to hold back a burp. When it finally forces its way through, the high-pressure air makes the structures in the upper esophagus and back of the throat vibrate \u2013 and that\u2019s what causes the sound.<\/p>\n

If you forcibly push the burp through, it increases the pressure in your esophagus, causing more intense vibrations and making the burp louder \u2013 more like a \u201cBUURRRPP\u201d or a \u201cBRAAAPPP!\u201d These are the belches that usually make your parents cringe and your friends give you high-fives.<\/p>\n

If you gently open up your sphincter, it lowers the pressure in your esophagus and allows for less intense vibrations. These burps are more likely to be on the daintier side \u2013 more like a quieter \u201cerp\u201d \u2013 so probably your best bet for weddings or funerals.<\/p>\n

The sound of the burp can take on even cooler and weirder tones depending on how you move your mouth and tongue around. This is how you can even form words or \u2013 for the truly talented \u2013 songs with burping.<\/p>\n

So what happens if you have other gasses in the digestive system that are too far down to come up as a burp? That gas can become a fart<\/a>. When you fart, gas leaves your body through another closed, valve-like structure \u2013 a different sphincter. This one happens to be called the anus.<\/p>\n

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Releasing gas is natural and healthy.<\/span>
\nGOLFX\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the gas builds up in pressure, often with a little help from your butt muscles, it causes that sphincter to finally open up. And the anus structures vibrate just like the structures in your throat during a burp. And there\u2019s your fart.<\/p>\n

So the next time someone says you\u2019re burping too loudly, just reassure them that it was a perfectly normal mouth fart. That will probably go over well. You can always point out that at least it wasn\u2019t a fart from the other end.<\/p>\n

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Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live. We won\u2019t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.<\/em>\"The<\/p>\n

George Saffouri<\/a>, Assistant Clinical Professor of Health Sciences, Gastroenterology & Hepatology, University of California, Riverside<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George Saffouri, University of California, Riverside Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why does burping make noise? \u2013 Henry E., age 8, Somerville, Massachusetts Burping is a normal part of everyday life. Burps happen when air […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":17863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3410],"tags":[6689,6786,6908,6909,5853,6907,2197,6910],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17867"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17867"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17873,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17867\/revisions\/17873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}