Tag: weight

Posted in History & Literature

Zodiac: Libra

Posted on by Jinavie

Libra is the Zodiac sign for those born between September 23 and October 21. The symbol for Libra is a pair of large, golden scales.

The model for Libra is the Scales of Justice used by Astraea, the goddess of justice. She would use these scales to compare the arguments of the defendant and the plaintiff in a trial to decide who was right. Interestingly, the concept of using scales in a trial can be found in other cultures such as Egyptian mythology. Anubis, the god of death, would take a person’s heart out when they died, put it on scales and compare the weight against the Feather of Truth. If the heart was lighter, the person’s soul would be sent to heaven; if it was heavier, he would be sent to hell. Astraea’s scales also became a constellation when she ascended to the heavens.

(Part of the Zodiac series: https://jineralknowledge.com/tag/zodiacs/?order=asc)

Posted in Science & Nature

Soul

Posted on by Jinavie

In 1907, a physician called Duncan MacDougall tried to scientifically prove the existence of the human soul. He weighed patients dying from tuberculosis at the time of death and studied the change in body mass. After observing the death of six patients, he noted that the body mass lightens at the time of death, which he attributed to the soul leaving the dead body. He published the official average mass of the soul as 21 grams.

Unfortunately, this experiment was complete nonsense. MacDougall failed to use the scientific method. The tiny sample size of six patients, the broad range of weight loss (21 was an arbitrary number he chose and was not even the proper mean mass) and the lack of control in the study environment are some of the major flaws of the experiment procedure. In fact, it is more likely the change in body mass was due to the many changes that occur post-mortem. For example, the lungs recoil and breathe out air, moisture escapes the body and as the sphincters relax, excrements are expelled.

Many people still believe the urban myth that the soul has an objective weight of 21 grams (possibly augmented by the movie 21 grams). Another interesting fact is that MacDougall also experimented on dogs (except instead of using dying dogs, he killed them himself). He found that dogs lose no weight when dying and thus claimed that dogs have no soul.

image

(Source: http://ericana.deviantart.com/art/Soul-Meets-Body-80831167?q=boost%3Apopular%20soul%20%20body%20-eater&qo=5)

Posted in Science & Nature

Man Versus Ant

Posted on by Jinavie

Human:
A mammal that ranges in size from about 1 to 2 metres.
Weighs between 30kg and 100kg. Females are pregnant for 9 months. 
Omnivorous diet. Population estimated around 7 billion.

Ant:
An insect that ranges in size from about 0.01 to 3 centimetres.
Weighs between 0.001mg and 1g. Can produce eggs endlessly given there is an ample sperm reservoir.
Omnivorous diet. Population estimated around 1 quintillion (1 billion times 1 billion).

(from The Encyclopaedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge by Bernard Werber)