alt Hacker NewsCould you elaborate on what you mean? What does methane have to do with this and what is the "out" column?
Calorimetry is just measuring the heat transfer from combustion, usually by measuring the temperature change of a known quantity of water in the classical experiment. You perform versions of it in high school and undergrad
Calories are just a unit of energy, and heat can be related back to energy (joules for people using SI)
Well some of the food we eat generates flatulence of which 7% can be methane. Meaning this leaves our system without burning. As such in calorimeter it would be unburned fuel. Meaning that some calories are not absorbed failing the calories in and out equation.