Can any one define DEATH in physics?

Question

I think Dr Greg is right but cant it be defined in terms of conservation of energy law. think about it.

Answer 1

before you worry about defining death in equations, you must note the precursor which begs the familiar adage:

what is the meaning of life?

that question alone can take up an entire lifespan of a dedicated person.

before death can be defined, define life first.

if anyone here can do it, they shouldnt be scientists. they should be the geniuses over at the philosophy section of this website.

NOTE
one cannot define death as the absence of motion, or the phenomenon whereby newton's laws no longer apply. for the latter, there are tons of exceptions to newtonian mechanics that hardly appear to me as 'dead'. for the former, the terms call for absolute zero, which is not a recognisable situation in practicality, yet we see deaths everywhere on TV and in the news.

defining death as the dissolution of a body. what defines a body, a healthy body, a sickly body, a partially decomposed or 95% decomposed body? what is completely decomposed? for the body is but an arrangement of atoms. what is an arrangement and how far must this arrangement be disrupted before the onset of complete dearrangement is set? it all seems arbitrary to me.

as such it is in the best interest of my sanity that i define life to be L=c where c is an arbitrary constant, and death D be D=k where k is some other arbitrary constant.

there you go.

Answer 2

I believe the plural of Genius is Genii, but none-the-less, Dr Greg got it pretty much right.

However, if we set aside the spiritual aspects, and focus upon the "life and death" of cells, then things are not too complicated. The death of a cell occurs when the chemical reactions which keep it alive, cease. It is more of a biological and chemical question than a physics question, I feel.

If we focus upoon the siritual aspects, then theories abound. What happens to "me" when "I" die? If that is the question that you are meaning to ask, then here is my humble opinion.

I am not a "spiritualist", I am actually a physicist, however I don't believe that science (physics) has yet unlocked the secrets to the universe. Here we go....

We each experience our own universe through our senses (touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell and any others we decide we have). MY universe begins with ME, where I am right now. It extends out in every direction. If I try to reach the "other end" of the universe, then I will still be at MY beginning, which is where I am. It is kind of like chasing the end of a rainbow, the more you try to reach it, the further away it gets!

Now, since each of us experiences our universe differently, then we are each living in a parallel universe. Those universes only intersect when we touch, see, smell, taste, or hear eachother. Our "spirit", "mind", "soul" or whatever you want to call it is intimately connected with our body, and it is only our body which lives and dies. Our body gives us the capacity for memory, and it is only through memory that we can create the concept of TIME. Imagine if you could not remember anything, even from one second to the next. TIME would not exist.

The connection between our "spirit" or whatever and oour body is through the simple harmonic motion which pervades the universe. Think about it, Simple Harmonic Motion is everywhere. There is a resonance between our bodies and our "spirit" which begins at our body's conception and continues until our body's "death". The "spirit" will not cease being, but it will no longer have the senses and memory faculties of the body to "feed" it.

Actually, I believe that all the knowledge we gain while our "spirit" is connected to our body, feeds into some other dimension, which we cannot comprehend.

Anyway, as I said, I am not a spiritualist, but I don't know how else to express what I believe.
Our "spirit" has a close relationship with energy, and matter is energy which is held in a stable form by electrostatic or other forces. When matter and antimatter annihilate eachother, their charges neutralise and the matter can no longer exist as matter, so it is converted into pure energy.

Anyway, I have a long way to go yet, however I just wanted to tell the story so far...the story of the Universe according to Mez.

Answer 3

Death is not definable directly in terms of physics: it is a medical state for which the definition has changed over time.
In the past, the doctor bit the toe of the presumed dead. If there were no reaction, the person was considered dead. (TRUE!)
Depending on the country you live in, some different rules apply, but, in general, the following "tests" are generally accepted:
To be considered "dead", the three major vital functions have to stop:
- breathing,
- heart stop (no blood circulation)
- no brain activity (that is, no electro-chemical reactions within the encephalus, detectable by our current "machines").
HOWEVER...
If spontaneous breathing is not possible, artificial lung can supply a response, and you are not dead yet.
If blood circulation stops, a peristaltic pump can take over: you are not dead yet.
The only real death seems to be when the brain stops working.
So, the moment of death is hard to define!
If we managed to take out the brain of a person, supply it with oxygenated blood (and some stimulus), the brain would not "die", hence nor would the person. (One way to cheat Death?).
So, death in physic's terms would be "termination of brain electro-chemical reactions".

Answer 4

It has been said by a few doctors in the past that the only way to be sure of death is wait for the body to decompose.

Answer 5

One can say, that in physics, death is the absence of motion and energy.

Answer 6

Newton's Law of Motion No More...

Answer 7

Yes.The body(which is a physical form) vanishes from the earth.

Answer 8

sorry,U cannot because death is not a physical phenomena,It,s a physiological phenomenon which has yet to be understood and solve out.

Answer 9

I think no one can.