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Burnsys
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It's sayd that when one dies, the body loses 21 grams of it's weight.
Has this been proved? i think it's just a false myth, very easy to verify.
Has this been proved? i think it's just a false myth, very easy to verify.
(Duncan) MacDougall seems not to have made any more experimental breakthroughs regarding the measurement of the human soul after 1911 (at least, none considered remarkable enough to have been reported in the pages of the New York Times), and he passed away in 1920. Nonetheless, his legacy lives on in the oft-expressed maxim that the human soul weighs 21 grams. (At the moment of death, MacDougall's first test subject decreased in weight by three-fourths of an ounce, which is 21.3 grams.)
What to make of all this? MacDougall's results were flawed because the methodology used to harvest them was suspect, the sample size far too small, and the ability to measure changes in weight imprecise. For this reason, credence should not be given to the idea his experiments proved something, let alone that they measured the weight of the soul as 21 grams. His postulations on this topic are a curiousity, but nothing more.
:rofl: Good point!zoobyshoe said:Seems to me if the body loses weight, the soul must have been on it's way down when it left the body. They should try this on some good people.
Moonbear said:I would think the body would lose a bit more than 21 grams at death, considering there is usually a relaxation of the sphincter muscles that control excretory function.
I would also find it really hard to believe that in 1911 a balance (scale) existed that would permit accurate weight measurements on a range of a gram all the way up to over 100 kg. I'm not even sure such a balance exists today...that's a pretty wide range to remain accurate over.
"My fifth case showed a distinct drop in the beam requiring about three-eighths of an ounce which could not be accounted for. This occurred exactly simultaneously with death but peculiarly on bringing the beam up again with weights and later removing them, the beam did not sink back to stay for fully fifteen minutes."
I think we can find some volunteer's https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=63689"Art said:Now who here would like to volunteer to sacrifice themselves to further human knowledge.
Burnsys said:This experiment should be done again, but the bed must be over a scale, and in a perfectly sealed room, the room must be mesured also, so if the "21 grams soul" escapes from the body then the Room should weight the same and the sould would be trapped in the room, but if the room loss 21 grams then it's a even more interesting result.
The 21 Gram Myth is a popular belief that the human soul or consciousness weighs exactly 21 grams and leaves the body at the moment of death. It is often used as evidence for the existence of an afterlife or spiritual realm.
No, there is no scientific evidence to support the 21 Gram Myth. The idea originated from a flawed experiment conducted by a physician in the early 20th century, and has been debunked by numerous studies since then.
In 1901, Dr. Duncan MacDougall conducted an experiment where he weighed six patients at the moment of death and claimed to have found a weight loss of 21 grams. However, his methods were not scientifically sound and his results could not be replicated.
The 21 Gram Myth has been perpetuated by popular culture and media, and has become a part of many people's belief systems. It is also often used as a comforting thought for those dealing with the loss of a loved one.
As there is no scientific evidence to support the 21 Gram Myth, it can be concluded that it is not a fact but rather a fiction. Science has yet to discover the true nature of consciousness and what happens to it after death.