I've heard that the body loses 21 grams as soon as somone dies, and that this represents the weight of the soul.
Two questions: what's the source of this, and is there any truth in it? And does your soul weigh more if you're heavier in real life?
2006-09-30 09:52:57 · 19 answers · asked by JHG 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Air has weight, and exhalation weighs a few grams. I could buy the idea of losing "the breath of life."
Aloha
2006-09-30 09:55:14 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
It is true that when somebody dies instantly 21 grams of weight leaves your body there isn't actually any scientific explanation for it. One explanation that has been made is that it is your soul but there isn't actually any evidence. Could be though, it's a nice idea.
2006-09-30 09:56:41 · answer #2 · answered by maniconmonday 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
That's the premise for the movie, 21 Grams. A very good intense movie, but I hardly doubt it.
2006-09-30 09:55:22 · answer #3 · answered by just browsin 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i dont think there is really a way to know this.
can someone's soul weigh 19 grams? or 22 grams? everything else varies.... why not that?
2006-09-30 09:56:22 · answer #4 · answered by abbie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the source - yes it was based on actual medical experiments, but the metholodgy was flawed and subject to serious experimenter bias.
I do npt belive in a soul, but everything I have read about it (in religious literature) says that the the soul is a concept of energy, not matter.
see
http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp for full details
2006-09-30 10:05:31 · answer #5 · answered by Vinni and beer 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The weight of the soul is in direct proportion to the life experiences one has encountered. The 21 grams is just escaping gases, followed by fluids and other unmentionables. The more you have experienced, the heavier your soul. Also, newborns and the very young have large souls, not necessarily heavy, because of their innocence.
2006-09-30 09:59:08 · answer #6 · answered by wadenovakovski 2 · 0⤊ 4⤋
Gas is expelled from the body as you die. It just leaks out. And the soul only weighs 2 grams.
2006-09-30 09:54:17 · answer #7 · answered by Blunt Honesty 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
The soul is not composed of matter, and therefore has no mass and no weight. Also, since it is a supernatural or spiritual entity, it lies completely outside the purview of science. Science is the study of the natural universe, not the supernatural.
2006-09-30 10:04:41 · answer #8 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I never heard of this. Your soul is like a thought, weightless and electrical and of unknown origins. The 21g is likely related to things like loss of body fluids. If a soul had a weight it would also have to have a mass which obviously it doesn't.
2006-09-30 16:14:50 · answer #9 · answered by orangefish04 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋
The 21 gm is, in fact body fluid, but hey, what a better idea,!!!
I believe the soul lives on to people who love you and
people you have loved.. what better accalaid !!
2006-09-30 10:00:56 · answer #10 · answered by landgirl60 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋