Question: How many carbs would you need to explode?

Simon Spichak answered on 24 Apr 2020:

Now we can’t physically explode but this is a very interesting question. Let’s approach it theoretically then! Carbohydrates are complex sugars that are linked together, and they can release energy when these linkages are broken or if they are digested. Something very cool about the human body is that we have specialized bacteria in the gut that can convert certain fibers, such as bran flakes into different molecules. Let’s focus on one of these molecules – butyrate which under the right circumstances can be volatile.

For TNT, we know that one gram of it can release a certain amount of energy. So how much carbohydrates would we need to eat so that we can make a butyrate explosion equal to one gram of TNT? Well first we check out how much energy is released by one gram of TNT; this energy is measured in calories or Joules. For each gram of TNT that is exploded, 4184 joules are released.

Okay now let’s check out some of these fibers. I am currently obsessed with sourdough bread which has a lot of resistant starches. Our microbes can get 2 calories (8.2 Joules) of energy from 1 gram of this starch. If around 50% is converted to Butyrate, which can provide us 1 calorie or 4.18J per gram if ignited. Now we need 1kg of sourdough bread to generate the same amount of energy as 1 gram explosion, or about 50kg if we assume we need about 50 grams for our little explosion. Luckily, it’s physically impossible to consume that much sourdough bread (though I wish it wasn’t).