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by Joe-Speedy on April 10th, 2006

Joe-Speedy

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At the moment of death, is there a detectable loss of mass to the body that is unexplainable in physical terms?

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  • by Erin Albrecht on January 28th, 2006

    Erin Albrecht

    According to http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp, a Dr. Duncan MacDougall performed this experiment in 1907. His measurements of the "weight of the soul" varied significantly across the six trials he performed (of which two were discarded due to equipment failure). MacDougall also weighed dogs ante- and post-mortem and found no change, leading him to conclude that dogs do not have souls.

    If you are to accept the results of MacDougall's work, the soul weighs three-quarters of an ounce, or 21 grams. However, his experiment was flawed: the sample size (four) was far too small and his weighing methods were imprecise. I would advise you to take MacDougall's experimental results with a grain of salt (or 324 of them!).

    Comments

    • Nice answer. Interesting research.

      Jodie44

      by Jodie44 on February 9th, 2006

    • Now There! is a fine answer to the question. Well done!

      Joe-Speedy

      by Joe-Speedy on April 27th, 2006

    • That's the one I was thinking of. You saved me looking it up...

      Friartuck

      by Friartuck on October 21st, 2009

    • I heard about that one and another, but they both had 3/4 of an ounce..Interesting I'd say, very interesting.

      EmptyWallet

      by EmptyWallet on October 22nd, 2009

    • I don't think you can legitimately conclude that there is no soul leaving the body -- you can only put an upper limit on its mass. Dog souls weigh zero, plus or minus three quarters of an ounce.

      That's the way it's done.

      purplecows

      by purplecows on August 8th, 2010

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