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Science's Limits Are Only Self-Imposed

Posted by michael on from the there-is-no-spoon dept.

Tristfardd writes "The Independent has a fine article on ridiculous experiments, some of which really are ridiculous, while others have interesting ramifications. If only the article gave links for viewing the rotating frog or the film on self-trepanation."

6 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Re:As for the 'soul' experiment... by ivan256 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Air weighs, give or take depending on the gasses, about 1.2 milligrams per cubic centimeter. To drop 21 grams, you would need to exhale over 25,000 cubic centimeters of gas.

  2. Re:As for the 'soul' experiment... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I believe someone named Archimedes might have an objection to that statement.

  3. Soul experiment was bad science by merdark · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The soul experiment was terribly bad science, and from it we can only conclude that the man who performed it believed in a soul, and hence found that.

    Details can be found here:
    http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.a sp

    Some of the short points are:
    * small sample size of 4 cases
    * the results varied widely
    * deciding upon the exact time of death is no easy task

    All in all, the experiment proves nothing.

    1. Re:Soul experiment was bad science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well, the thing is even if there is a soul it is highly unlikely to weigh anything as by its very nature it is beyond our physical world.

    2. Re:Soul experiment was bad science by merdark · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If it interacts with us, then it is by definition part of our physical world.

      If it has absolutely no interaction with us, then I don't see how you can associate it with us.

  4. Re:As for the 'soul' experiment... by Idarubicin · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The article forgot to mention that there was indeed a plausible explanation for the 21 grams lost after each person died.

    I'm going with the plausible explanation of

    his instruments weren't very precise;

    he saw a loss in weight in only four of the six patients--the others gained weight; and

    he had a result in mind that he wanted to see.

    Also, the air explanation doesn't...er...hold water. Other posters have noted that the mass of air that will fit even in fully inflated lungs is only about (off the top of my head, now) about two or three grams. Plus, as an AC astutely noted, Archimedes would have a problem with this explanation. The air in the lungs won't have any effect on the measured weight of the person, because it's displacing an equal mass of air around the body.

    --
    ~Idarubicin