Monday, October 29, 2007

Do human souls have mass?

A man by the name of Dr. Duncan MacDougall claimed that the human soul actually has mass and went out to prove it by conducting an experiment in 1907. In the experiment which was conducted in a controlled environment, he laid 6 subjects who were close to death on beds which was constructed with a “delicately balanced platform beam scale” integrated into it. Upon death, it was found that out of the 6 subjects, 4 subjects have lost some weight. For the remaining two, one subject passed away 5 minutes before the experiment began and the other the scales were not properly tuned. In the process of weighing, MacDougall took into account the mass loss due to respiration and evaporation of sweat. If there is bowel movement upon death, it will still remain on the bed cum scales.

Result: There was a lost of 21 g (average I think) at the point of death.

Conclusion: Human souls have mass

Critics state that MacDougall could not have accounted for all the factors that lead to the small mass loss. MacDougall did not at that time, had the equipment to accurately measure the mass lose due to evaporation and respiration. Dr. Augustus P. Clarke explains that at death, there is a sudden rise in body temperature when the blood stops being air-cooled via its circulation through the lungs. Dr. Clarke posited that the increased temperature elevated the rate of sweating and moisture evaporation which lead to the sudden drop of weight. Also, science is based on the repeated and reproducibility of the experiment and MacDougall only had 6 data from the subject and varied in the way mass was lost, which was not “scientifically acceptable” (One subject lost and actually gained weight and then lost weight again). In the end, the whole experiment was brushed aside due to many ‘unaccountable’ factors.

I for one believe that human souls do not have mass but it would be really, REALLY interesting to prove or disprove it. So I came up with another similar experiment but applying what I have learned in physics class.

Instead of putting the man onto a bed that just weigh whatever mass that is directly exerting force upon it, I suggest that the man be put in a completely enclosed environment, preferably a sealed tight glass tank and weighing it with an electronic weighing machine sensitive to 0.001 decimal. Because the tank is completely enclosed, it doesn’t matter if the dying man has lose mass due to evaporation or respiration, the closed system prevents any mass from escaping and therefore having the same overall mass.

If at the point of death there is still a drop in mass, things will start to get interesting. If physically no mass has escaped the sealed tank, then only can we assume that something else has left the physical body (or physical world). Maybe say…the soul? If this experiment is conducted 1000 times and achieve a respectable rate of 95%, and assuming that all experiments took extra length to ensure that the tank is completely sealed, I think I can assume that souls have mass. However, the soul must be of extreme low density to "weave" through the close atomic bonds of the glass tank. To anyone reading this article and wanting to run the experiment, by all means do so. If it works, I would appreciate it if you could name the experiment after me. If not, I don’t know who the hell you are and will charge you for harassment. Oh! If there are improvements to the experiment please do write it down in the comments!

One ending note, the experiment won’t work if the soul is stuck within the tank. Now that’s funny!!! HAHA

2 comments:

Random Bits From A Rabbi said...

Hey I just Googled for this question knowing about the experiment you noted, I for one would love to perform the experiment you stated above but there are factors that you did not introduce that are more crucial than the ones you did mention. The main one is how to get consent from a dying person that would allow them to be locked in an air tight chamber until they die? The second would be how I would get the Government to allow this possibly cruel procedure? and the third would be who would fund it? I am by no means filthy rich. So sorry to tell you but this experiment will probably never get to be repeated again.

Random Bits From A Rabbi said...

I realized that that sounded to serious and could therefor make me sound rude... you can add an chuckle or two after each question that I put if you like.