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Slight Weight Loss at Moment of Death!?? WHats that?!?


ibking

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its not that hard to do. get a Terminally ill patient, hook him up to a scuba and EKG, put him in water, and wait. Use intravenous nutrition. Everything is on a platform that is above him, and still on the scale.

 

Now, unless you pull some people's ethics, that would work

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Might be a bit dull, since a lot of terminally ill people take a long, long time to die.

 

I'd go for something like using a sealed system. We will know in a few years once people start going to the planets, as someone is bound to die at some point, in the sealed system. If they are out a bit when they get there, we will know for sure.

 

I suspect that it is rubbish, and all that was measured was a lung full of air and some evaporation, on a slightly iffy balance system that was affected by the torque interaction of the circulation in the body.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 11 months later...

If you don't know the answer, don't bother to reply!

You say "I suspect that any rigorous testing would be in direct conflict with the Hippocratic Oath." Why? I see no contradiction, and in the single experiment that has been done there seem to be no evidence that that oath was viiolated.

You also say that "It would probably require immersing the person in a fluid..." This is just a bad surmise and not required for a valid experiment.

Lastly, the statement "cessation of fluid functions such as circulation which generate pressure and could affect the measurements" begs the question as to how either cessation of fluid functions or pressure per se could affect a weight measurement.

This all just musings and totally non-helpful to answering the question.

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A good response, but it has (IMHO) a couple of flaws.

You say that "Normal lung dynamics result in about +-5 g of mass loss." This would be true of the total or vital) volume were expelled. However, the tidal volume, the volume normally expressis is only about a tenth of that, and amounts to a gram or less. The rest of that paragraph (jet effects, blood flow, musculoskeletal movement) involve effects which are much smaller and transient. Thus, there is no need for a "sealed chamber".

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I would also suggest the following:

 

1) Quote those responses which you are addressing

2) Spend some time learning the general disposition of the site and the poster before slapping them with your righteous tone.

 

We know very little about you so far RB. Are you sure this is the impression you want to make? :)

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First, get a spell checker.

Second, learn about the composition of air (mostly nitrogen) and its weight.

First, try to quote something so that we at least have some kind of idea what post you're referring to.

Second, maybe you should follow Tormod's advice here and beat horses that at least show a pulse.

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