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21 grams theory


Disembodied Voice

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Has anyone heard of the 21 grams theory? I heard there is a movie about it but I've never seen it but I came across this website about it and I thought I would share and was wondering what everyone thought about it..

21 grams theory - Historic Mysteries

On 10 April 1901, an unusual experiment was conducted in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Dr. Duncan MacDougall was going to prove that the human soul had mass, and was therefore, measurable.

Dr. MacDougall conducted this experiment on six dying patients who were placed on specially made Fairbanks weight scales just prior to their deaths. Dr. MacDougall’s intention was to weigh each body before and after death to determine any differences measured by the delicate scales. The patients were selected based upon their imminent death. Two patients were suffering from tuberculosis, 5 were men and one was a woman.

In the company of four other doctors, Dr. MacDougall carefully measured the weight of his first patient prior to his death. Once the patient died, an interesting event occurred.

“Suddenly, coincident with death,” wrote Macdougall, “the beam end dropped with an audible stroke hitting against the lower limiting bar and remaining there with no rebound. The loss was ascertained to be three-fourths of an ounce.”

The experiment continued on the next patient with the same results. Dr. MacDougall felt he was on to something extraordinary. A quote from the 11 March 1907 New York Times article captures the historic moment:

Also if you have better links please post them. Thanks :)

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Interesting but I'd like to see a more recent experiment on this. They've probably debunked it and attributed it to something else in more recent times

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Interesting but I'd like to see a more recent experiment on this. They've probably debunked it and attributed it to something else in more recent times

Me too but it's hard to find a website with more recent news...I've tried searching for a better page but I keep getting links to the dang movie and other sites that are outdated..thanks for pointing that out, maybe your right....If anyone has a more recent link feel free to share :)

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It would be surprising if this experiment hadn't been repeated in the intervening period to the present time, and if it was confirmed, would be big news. I have never heard of it, so I'd be doubtful it has any merit.

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I totally agree with illumination on this one. That was 1901 for Pete's sake! We need something more recent. I've read this story I don't know how many times in the past few years and I have yet to hear anything new. Has anyone else?

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http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp

"So, out of six tests, two had to be discarded, one showed an immediate drop in weight (and nothing more), two showed an immediate drop in weight which increased with the passage of time, and one showed an immediate drop in weight which reversed itself but later recurred. And even these results cannot be accepted at face value as the potential for experimental error was extremely high, especially since MacDougall and his colleagues often had difficulty in determining the precise moment of death, one of the key factors in their experiments. (MacDougall later attempted to explain away the timing discrepancies by concluding that "the soul's weight is removed from the body virtually at the instant of last breath, though in persons of sluggish temperament it may remain in the body for a full minute.")"

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found this experiment conducted in 1988. Weighing of the Human Soul

http://www.noeticsciences.co.uk/weighting-the-human-soul/

1/3000th of an ounce? That's a far cry from 23 grams. That just seems too slight to be anything meaningful. No way you can prove that is the soul. I'm sure the body changes at death physically that could account for that weight. That's just my opinion.

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found this experiment conducted in 1988. Weighing of the Human Soul

http://www.noeticsciences.co.uk/weighting-the-human-soul/

Only 1/3000 th of an ounce......gawd we've gone backwards.

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I've always wondered why people think a soul would weigh anything. The only way it could have weight was if it had an actual physical form. It would be like wondering how much thoughts or memories weigh.

Edited by Slave2Fate
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1/3000th of an ounce? That's a far cry from 23 grams. That just seems too slight to be anything meaningful. No way you can prove that is the soul. I'm sure the body changes at death physically that could account for that weight. That's just my opinion.

I don't know how much air weighs, but I'd bet we are changing that kind if miniscule weight every time we breath in and out. I'd be willing to bet your kooseing that much in water every few minutes.

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I don't know how much air weighs, but I'd bet we are changing that kind if miniscule weight every time we breath in and out. I'd be willing to bet your kooseing that much in water every few minutes.

If you think about it, the air doesn't weigh anything, we are swimming in an ocean of it. The water passing through a fish's gills doesnt make it any heavier.

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I would say it probably has something to.do.with the gases you release.and the bowel movements you have when you die. Even if a "movement" didn't excrete, just by the change in the body, it's getting ready to do this so a loss in weight just by it moving to a certain location could occur. Plus blood flow has stopped, saliva and other bodily fluids have stopped. I really wouldn't be surprised if that counted for something.

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I've always wondered why people think a soul would weigh anything. The only way it could have weight was if it had an actual physical form. It would be like wondering how much thoughts or memories weigh.

I am often weighed down by my thoughts :P

In all seriousness, we dont actually weigh very much once all the air is taken out of us. It is said that if we were to take all the empty space out of every human on the planet we would all fit into a match box.

So with this in mind could one part of us in death, engage in breaking down the atom to leave the nucleus only then this could easily account for 23 grams. :blink:

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the weight loss (assuming it was real) was due to evaporation caused by the sudden rise in body temperature that occurs when the blood circulation stops and the blood can no longer be air-cooled by the lungs. This also elegantly explains why the dogs showed no weight loss: as is well known, they cool themselves by panting, not sweating like humans do.

This has been explained numerous times.... http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=3996

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dont be boring Sakari, use your imagination :P

I am tired of being let down by my imagination... :blush:

I did look , but could not find ( yet ) a Anatheseoligist ( spell check ) has a theory , he has been doing studies and thinks he may have found a " soul " , and his Hypothesis is being looked at seriously.....Can't find it yet , was on NG Channel.......Something to do with something in cells....He monitored brain activity during surgeries , and had a strobe light over the patience eyes.....Was pretty interesting.....

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I am tired of being let down by my imagination... :blush:

I did look , but could not find ( yet ) a Anatheseoligist ( spell check ) has a theory , he has been doing studies and thinks he may have found a " soul " , and his Hypothesis is being looked at seriously.....Can't find it yet , was on NG Channel.......Something to do with something in cells....He monitored brain activity during surgeries , and had a strobe light over the patience eyes.....Was pretty interesting.....

If you find it, let me know. This seems really interesting! Thanks.

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I saw and read upon this many years ago. It could be true .. it could be false. Yet many in the scientific world will admit that not counting the air in your last breath or the dung which flies out after your bowls give away that for some reason we lose weight after dying. They do this with the fact that even with what spills out your body will still be weighed as the weight is tied into an entire bed. So besides this only air could be the culprit. Or could it???

However it does not mean that it is a soul. Does not mean it is not a soul. Nobody can explain this. Some people have claimed to debunk this, yet really they cant prove this is wrong as nobody can prove it is correct.

Gladly though it gives me hope that someday after dying my energy can explore the universe. Been wanting to get out of this hell for quite a time. Still not a believer .. yet my mind is open enough to see that yes this could actually be true!!!

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If you find it, let me know. This seems really interesting! Thanks.

It was History International......2 Hour show , and has a lot of positive reviews......

Was called " Science of the Soul " ...... I am still trying to find the part I saw.....Maybe check their schedule?....I am having bad luck with it right now...

Not to sure if this is the guy I am looking for...

http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/index.html

Edited by Sakari
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From the above article:

From the tabloid, Weekly World News, Nov. 8, 1988. By Ragan Dunn. This story appeared in the same issue as a story headlined, “Painting of Elvis weeps real tears”, and “Psychic makes river run backwards”.

I think that says enough about the credibility of the few reports done on this topic. On a more serious note, your body does change when you die. It changes a lot. Changes in weight are by no means irregular, and the discrepancy in weights reported is only further testimony to the absence of a concrete paranormal cause.

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I had never heard of this before. Thanks for posting, interesting stuff.

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My thought is this weight loss has something to do with the muscle.

Those muscles are "let go" when the person dies. That's why losses are different on different people.

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