As the country faces an acute shortage of medical oxygen in the middle of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, a picture post is circulating on social media with a claim that burning 10 grams of cow dung along with ghee can produce 1000 tonnes of oxygen.
“घर में ऑक्सिजन पैदा करने के लिए गौ माता के गोबर से बने दो छोटे कड़े उपले देसी गाय का घी डालकर जलाए। 10 ग्राम घी 1000 टन वायु को ऑक्सिजन में परिवर्तित (कन्वर्ट) कर देता है हमारे (भारतीय) ऋषि मुनियों ने यह हज़ारों वर्षों पहले यह बताया था। शोध के रूप में जापान ने यह प्रयोग वर्षों पहले किया था,” the post read.
(Translation: To produce oxygen in the house, burn two small pieces of cow dung with ghee. 10 grams of ghee converts 1000 tons of air into oxygen. Our (Indian) sages have known this for thousand of years. Japan has also substantiated this)
The Facebook posts can be seen here and here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the post and found the claim to be false.
We ran a keyword search and found an infographic by NASA explaining the process of combustion. The graphic explains that combustion is a chemical process in which a substance reacts rapidly with oxygen and gives off heat.
According to the graphic, for combustion to occur three things must be present: a fuel to be burned, a source of oxygen, and a source of heat. As a result of combustion, heat is released. Therefore, in the process of burning, oxygen is consumed. The process cannot produce oxygen rather it uses oxygen.
Further, we found a report by The Hindu published on May 22, 2016. The headline of the report read, “On the sanctity of the cow: the heart has its reasons”.
The article explains that the claim is totally against the laws of physics. It further states that 10 grams of cow ghee simply cannot generate 1,000 kilograms of oxygen in any manner.
The Law of Conservation of Mass states that matter can change form through physical and chemical changes, but through any of these changes, the matter is conserved. The same amount of matter exists before and after the change—none is created or destroyed. This proves that burning 10 gram of any substance cannot produce 1000 tonnes of matter.
Further, we looked for reports or articles to check if there is some study or research to prove the claim but did not find anything remotely close to the claim.
We also checked Health Ministry‘s and World Health Organisation‘s website but did not find anything to substantiate the claim.
Hence, from the above fact check, it is clear that burning 10 grams of cow dung cannot generate 1,000 tonnes of oxygen.
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