Why does your body lose weight after you pass on?

Question

THIS IS A SCIENTIFIC FACT

Answer 1

Your body loses its breath (and a few other icky things that need not be mentioned). Historically, breath and spirit meant the same thing, since live animals were always breathing and dead ones weren't - their "spirit" had left them.

Answer 2

There was a recent story on Point of Inquiry about this. Susan Blackmore, a British psychologist who had an out-of-body experience when younger, became convinced by that of the reality of the soul. She began a long and studied inquiry into all the scientific evidence for it. After two decades, she decided that she had been deluded by her own mind.

Part of her reason for giving up the belief in the soul was that the study of losing weight immediately after death had been really botched. In fact, the data was so mixed as to suggest that some people gain a few grams, others lose a few, and others simply don't change at all.

So, although I know you are sincere in your believing your information (the movie "21 Grams" was based on this), it really is no more than a fairy tale.

Pax tecum.

Answer 3

Many people evacuate their bladders and bowels when they die. There has been anecdotal evidence of a person's weight being measured at death, but this has been mostly reported on popular science television programs. As far as I've been able to find, one physician in Massachusetts published an article in a journal called "American Medicine". He measured the weight of six patients at the time of death, and they seem to have lost about 3/4 of an ounce at death.

I've looked for the journal "American Medicine" and haven't found it. Still, the expirement supposedly took place in 1907 and I've found no more recent research. I've looked in multiple places for information regarding this research, and all I'm able to find is the same article reprinted.

The article seems somewhat incomplete, and does not seem to be representative of a project conducted with a great deal of scientific rigor. Still, having been conducted (supposedly) 100 years ago, the scientific method was somewhat less stringent than today.

In any event, until more modern research is done, I somewhat doubt this research. 3/4 of an ounce of pure energy, about 23 grams, is a HUGE amount of energy. It would be astounding to think of such energy exiting a body at once with no physical phenomenon accompanying it.

Answer 4

Probably because of the loss of fluids (which is disgusting, but happens), and the weight (if any) of the soul departing from the body (which I once heard was about 3 ounces, although I could be wrong). Also to be considered is the various gases in the body and oxygen in the lungs. Good question.

Answer 5

If you are saying that it's because the soul leaves your body, then you are saying that the soul is a physical object (contrary to what most people define "soul" to be). If that is the case, where is it located in the body? What molecules is it made out of? Can it be removed surgically?

Answer 6

simply because when the human body is no longer living the entire body starts deteriorating. this process includes many changes to the body because its regular fuctions and organs have stopped. eg: the heart, the brain, nerves, cells, etc. loss of oxygen into the body, etc.
-the loss of body hydration as in water mass alone will cause weight to drop eg, in the organs, blood, muscles, skin, etc...
this is a long and very detailed process, over time the body loses more mass and deteriorates to the point their is only dry bones and it becomes like dry soil.

Answer 7

You're talking about the work of Duncan McDougall. His experiment only used 6 subjects, and it wasn't very accurate. If anything leaves the body when a person dies, it's the air in their lungs, which does have some weight.

Answer 8

You need to get your facts straight, not all people lose weight when they die, but it has been shown that the majority of those that claim to be Christians do, and this has been attributed to the release of hot air being expelled from the cranial region, and the deflation of their egos.

Answer 9

It doesn't really lose that much. What is lost, is lost to dehydration, gas, loss of fluids (blood being drained, etc.), and regular (normal) breakdown of body tissues. So, unless your coffin is ventilated, its a real mess when the seal is broken. Think massive decompression with fluids and organs everywhere.

That's why I'm going cremation, so much faster and cleaner!

Answer 10

Indeed - I have measured the souls mass at 1.8 grams. In fact I have collected nearly 40 souls in controlled experiments and under cooling and very high pressures I have been able to condense out the matter in a form I call 'soul snow'

I am investigating their properties currently. I keep the souls in individual test tubes.