How Much Does the Soul Weigh - Investigating the Myth of 21 Grams

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The discussion centers around the concept of "soul weight," famously popularized by the movie "21 Grams," which suggests that humans lose 21 grams at the moment of death, supposedly as the soul departs the body. While this idea has captured public imagination, medical experts assert there is no scientific evidence to support it. The origin of the claim traces back to Dr. Duncan MacDougall's flawed 1907 experiments, which attempted to measure the soul's weight. Participants in the discussion humorously speculate on the idea of "soul weight," with suggestions ranging from the weight of breath to gas released at death. The conversation also touches on the non-material nature of the soul, implying it would not possess physical weight. Participants engage in light-hearted banter about dieting and the humorous implications of "losing soul weight." Overall, the thread combines scientific skepticism with playful commentary on the concept of the soul and its supposed weight.
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21 grams.

It's the weight of five nickels, a chocolate bar, a hummingbird - and, according to the acclaimed movie of the same name, the amount of weight we lose at the precise moment we die, perhaps as the soul escapes the body.

Chalk the idea up to urban legend, because doctors say there's no modern physiological evidence of the phenomenon. But there is, it turns out, a historical basis for the claim - albeit one based on scientifically flawed experiments.

Tucked away in a 1907 journal called American Medicine is the story of Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Haverhill, Mass., who postulated that the soul had substance and, therefore, a measurable mass.[continued]

http://www.sunspot.net/news/health/bal-te.gram02feb02,0,7721707.story?coll=bal-health-headlines
 
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I think mine weighs a few pounds because I can't fly around during my out of body experiences... This may explain it all! How do I lose "soul weight?" I'm definitely going to cut back on the wafers for sure...

Seriously, thanks for that snippet! All new to me..
 
Originally posted by TampaUSA
How do I lose "soul weight?"

Quit eating soul food?
 
LOL!
That's it.. I'm goin on a diet.
 
So selling your soul helps you make money, AND lose weight?
 
Well, I'm not sure if this has actually been established as fact, but I've a couple of guesses as to what the weight might actually be.

1) Breath, sure you can't see it, but it is comprised of atoms and molecules and stuff, which does have a weight.

2) Methane gas. Perhaps some people who are on there death bed had a big bowl of beans shortly before hand, and once they pass, the spincter unclinches releasing the foul demon.

As to it being a soul, it seems the soul is always described as being a non-material aspect of a human, and being non-material it seems it would not have any physical weight.
 
Actually, the sphincter relaxes releasing more that just gas...
 
Originally posted by Evo
Actually, the sphincter relaxes releasing more that just gas...
HEY! I was going to say EXACTLY that! - except I would have said "THAN" gas... (this seperated-at-birth thing is beginning to drive me bananas!)
 
I'm full of soul! I believe my soul weighs the same as TWO chocolate bars! Course it could be that I just ATE a chocolate bar...:wink: I'm praying it went right to my soul and not to my a$$ - sure FELT like it went to my soul...i feel much happier now...
 
  • #10
Originally posted by Tsunami
HEY! I was going to say EXACTLY that! - except I would have said "THAN" gas... (this seperated-at-birth thing is beginning to drive me bananas!)
Oooooops, THAN. It *is* getting weird. You know, I've always wanted to give barium enemas...
 
  • #11
forget the weight, feel the precision ...

"Or 21.262142347500003 grams" doesn't that make it a "fundamental constant" determined more precisely than any other?

Come back G, h, c, g! All is forgiven!
 
  • #12
...and

Also, MacDougall asserted, the drop wasn't from the loss of left-over air in the lungs, because the doctor and a colleague each got on the bed, strenuously inhaled and exhaled, and saw no change in the scale.

A full lung's worth of air has a mass of about 0.6 grams.
 
  • #13
Originally posted by Evo
Oooooops, THAN. It *is* getting weird. You know, I've always wanted to give barium enemas...
ROTFLMAOAPMP!

I'll send you some scrubs (I'd send you my 'uniform' but we kinda *need* that! :wink:) and a BE bag with instructions. Maybe you could practice on that blender-eating dog of yours - might keep him busy for at least a LITTLE while...
 
  • #14
how is Soul Defined. It should have units of Energy
 
  • #15
There is a way to prove this and a ghastly way it is.

Get a sentient being. A living human would be suggested, measure the human's weight. Give him an operation in order to stick a tube directly next to the brain, then attach the tube to a valve attached to an appropriately size sealed vacuum. Release the valve and watch as his 'soul' is sucked into the container.

Remove the container and weigh the corpse. The difference in weight is the weight of this person's soul. Peculiarly, it is about the same weight as the contents of the vacuum container.
 

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