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The Physics of Death (and What Happens to Your Energy When You Die).


The Energy in You
Even though it’s an inexorable part of life, for many people, death — or at least the thought of ceasing to exist forever — can be a scary thing. The disturbing things that happen to the body during decomposition — the process by which cells and tissues begin to break down post mortem — are bad enough.

But what if instead of looking at death from a biological perspective, we examine it from a physics standpoint? More specifically, let’s look at how our energy is redistributed after we die.


In life, the human body comprises matter and energy. That energy is both electrical (impulses and signals) and chemical (reactions). The same can be said about plants, which are powered by photosynthesis, a process that allows them to generate energy from sunlight.

The process of energy generation is much more complex in humans, though. Remarkably, at any given moment, roughly 20 watts of energy course through your body — enough to power a light bulb — and this energy is acquired in a plethora of ways. Mostly, we get it through the consumption of food, which gives us chemical energy. That chemical energy is then transformed into kinetic energy that is ultimately used to power our muscles.

A Changed State
As we know through thermodynamics, energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It simply changes states. The total amount of energy in an isolated system does not, cannot, change. And thanks to Einstein, we also know that matter and energy are two rungs on the same ladder.

The universe as a whole is closed. However, human bodies (and other ecosystems) are not closed — they’re open systems. We exchange energy with our surroundings. We can gain energy (again, through chemical processes), and we can lose it (by expelling waste or emitting heat).

In death, the collection of atoms of which you are composed (a universe within the universe) are repurposed. Those atoms and that energy, which originated during the Big Bang, will always be around. Therefore, your “light,” that is, the essence of your energy — not to be confused with your actual consciousness — will continue to echo throughout space until the end of time.

If nothing else can assuage some of the fear of death, the below advice from physicist Aaron Freemen via NPR should do it:

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed.

You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.

And at one point you’d hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you.

And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.

You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they’ll be comforted to know your energy’s still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you’re just less orderly.

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BuckingFastard(JN) edited this post .

The Physics of Death (and What Happens to Your Energy When You Die).¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ The Energy in You¬ Even though it’s an inexorable part of life, for many people, death — or at least the thought of ceasing to exist forever — can be a scary thing. The disturbing things that happen to the body during decomposition — the process by which cells and tissues begin to break down post mortem — are bad enough.¬ ¬ But what if instead of looking at death from a biological perspective, we examine it from a physics standpoint? More specifically, let’s look at how our energy is redistributed after we die.¬ ¬ ¬ In life, the human body comprises matter and energy. That energy is both electrical (impulses and signals) and chemical (reactions). The same can be said about plants, which are powered by photosynthesis, a process that allows them to generate energy from sunlight.¬ ¬ So You Want to Live Forever? [INFOGRAPHIC]¬ Click to View Full Infographic¬ In life, the human body comprises matter and energy. That energy is both electrical (impulses and signals) and chemical (reactions). The same can be said about plants, which are powered by photosynthesis, a process that allows them to generate energy from sunlight.¬ ¬ The process of energy generation is much more complex in humans, though. Remarkably, at any given moment, roughly 20 watts of energy course through your body — enough to power a light bulb — and this energy is acquired in a plethora of ways. Mostly, we get it through the consumption of food, which gives us chemical energy. That chemical energy is then transformed into kinetic energy that is ultimately used to power our muscles.¬ ¬ A Changed State¬ As we know through thermodynamics, energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It simply changes states. The total amount of energy in an isolated system does not, cannot, change. And thanks to Einstein, we also know that matter and energy are two rungs on the same ladder.¬ ¬ The universe as a whole is closed. However, human bodies (and other ecosystems) are not closed — they’re open systems. We exchange energy with our surroundings. We can gain energy (again, through chemical processes), and we can lose it (by expelling waste or emitting heat).¬ ¬ In death, the collection of atoms of which you are composed (a universe within the universe) are repurposed. Those atoms and that energy, which originated during the Big Bang, will always be around. Therefore, your “light,” that is, the essence of your energy — not to be confused with your actual consciousness — will continue to echo throughout space until the end of time.¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ If nothing else can assuage some of the fear of death, the below advice from physicist Aaron Freemen via NPR should do it:¬ ¬ You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed.¬ ¬ You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.¬ ¬ And at one point you’d hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you.¬ ¬ And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.¬ ¬ You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they’ll be comforted to know your energy’s still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you’re just less orderly.

Roccoflip
(4 hours after post)
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Was just thinking we hadn't seen you in a while. 😄

Very nice post! Honestly I opened it expecting a bit more specifics of where the energy goes, but I think this message would be good to hear at a person's funeral. (Probably one who's more science-inclined)

Hope all is well.

Electric
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....As experienced from the examiners point of view.... But, from the view of the subject?

Of course, time has gave me the room to assemble a few thoughts of my own. Yes, yes, you may say it is an unqualified view, but it's not completely without a comprehensive foundation.
Simply, there is what is eternal and there is what is transitory - and time is transitory.
It has been my observation that not all life forms have the same life span. I suppose biology can explain that but biology and evolution cannot explain the determining factor of what life form will have more life than other forms. It is important to recognize this because the entity (our very being) will experience life based on a rate of existence.
Let's step this up a bit.
As a child, I was given a tape recorder/player for my birthday. Like all kids who misuse gadgets, I soon discovered two things -
1. If I slowed the tape player spool down, more sound was recorded over a shorter distance of tape. When I played the recording back, the sound (usually my voice) sounded much faster - insect or cartoon-like.
2. And the opposite - if I sped the spool up, a given amount of sound was recorded on a longer length of tape. When played back (at the normal rate), the sound sounded very slow.
It's odd. Even as a kid I always made the association of a microphone to that of our human ears.
Let's go further.
The same principal of the tape player also applies to film (or in this case, video).
We are able to capture fast moving objects (ones too fast for our eyes to perceive), by speeding up the film. This actually allows less physical events to be captured per frame and when we play it back we can "see" bullets slowly moving through the air or lightening strikes slowly touching ground, etc.
On the other hand, if the film is slowed down - way down - we can "see" things that barely even move (like a flower that blooms open). When the film is played back, the flower instantly opens up when in reality it took all day. In this case, more physical event is captured per frame (a process called "Stop Motion.")
Isn't a camera a lot like the human eye? Here we have two pieces of technology that act like the biological sensory devices that we are gifted with.... In all reality it is the opposite, we have these technologies because they were based on working biological principals. Did you know that we also have two biological televisions? For anyone who remembers the days of glass televisions (or Cathode Ray Tubes) these televisions we have in our brain are facing each other, fused at the face.
In one sense, we don't see with our eyes, we see because of our T.V.s. It's called a Halo System according to ancient knowledge. It is the view portal by which our soul can see the outside world.
(And you think we live in the most technologic era to have ever existed - hahahahaha!). Our time today is a mere shadow of its former glory and the history taught today has done well turning the tables to bury real working truth.
Are you still with me?
Okay, let's go even further to solid-state technology. What is a silicon chip? How and why does it work?
It's easily understood that electricity flows through objects, but if you want to control the rate of flow, you have to regulate both vacuum and atmospheric pressure. This isn't as complicated as it sounds.
Microchip factories have rooms that are atmospherically sealed. This means they are able to suck the air out of the room with significant force. Molten silicon is poured onto a conductor and allowed to harden. The processing room is repressurized to normal atmosphere BUT the hardened silicon has permanently sealed the conductor at the time when the pressure was less. Because of that, electricity will flow at a different rate through the conductor....
The human body (in this case, the human brain) is neither a solid (like metal or rock), nor is it a liquid (like water). It is a semi-solid.
Now, let's connect some dots. All biological life forms have different rates of existence - this doesn't just mean that one creature has a longer (or shorter) life-span than the other - it has a completely different experience of life when it comes to perspective.
A hypothetical example of this goes to this effect; a human will try to swat a fly but the fly moves the moment we twitch.... Why? Because the fly has a different rate of existence (it's settings are tuned differently) and it sees the human in slow motion.
On the other hand, we as humans, will see the birth and death of many flies over the course of our life, alone.
At the same time, we can plant an oak tree (a poor example but it will make the point). We will never live long enough to see that oak tree mature into a full grown tree. On the other hand, that single tree will see the birth and death of many humans over the course of its life (provided it's not cut down early).
Let's connect more dots. We know what a fly sounds like, but I'm under the impression that we don't sound any differently from the perspective of the oak. We sound like little dying cartoons. Meanwhile, if an oak tree had a voice, we would not be able to understand any one of it's slow sounding words....

Now, if you've managed to get this far without falling into a catatonic state, let's put this picture completely together -

Time VS. Eternity.

All biological life-forms are subject to time. This is to also say, subject to the laws of physics and thermodynamics (as stated in this post). Furthermore, time does not respect any rate of existence because time is a regulated portion of eternity.
Only eternity remains.
It has often been said that we "see our life flash before our very eyes," when it comes to dying and death. That is because we are making the transition from "time" to the eternal state of things. Effectivly, we time travel out of time to the more permanent state of Eternity.

There are technologies within our brain that have "settings." Information of the life we have lived is energetically stored into certain focal points. Hence, we really never die, and we retain our personal identity and memories for all time.

Dr. ralph club zps9ornptsl
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I've decided I want Big Al and Joe to speak at my funeral if they outlive me.

Electric
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DocteurRalph wrote:
I've decided I want Big Al and Joe to speak at my funeral if they outlive me.

Well, don't get into a rush Doc. We love ya here and need you to keep us straight.
BTW you're doing great, keep up the good work brother.

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BIG.AL.ONE wrote:

DocteurRalph wrote:
I've decided I want Big Al and Joe to speak at my funeral if they outlive me.

Well, don't get into a rush Doc. We love ya here and need you to keep us straight.
BTW you're doing great, keep up the good work brother.

BIG.AL.ONE thing you're gonna have to take that one

Electric
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A Big Al One thing. You're gonna have to take that one.

No worries...I'm working on the final draft of his euilogy(heh,heh,heh!).

Yorick
(2 days after post)
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reminds me of the 21 grams theory

Anonymous
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(4 days after post)
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no offense but once someone dies they're gone forever and even if their energy survives its not them its just watts ...

I still dearly miss and mourn some people who died

Electric
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Anonymous wrote:
no offense but once someone dies they're gone forever and even if their energy survives its not them its just watts ...

I still dearly miss and mourn some people who died

Sorry, but....we're more than the sum of our parts and that just doesn't go away. Ever.

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Anonymous wrote:
no offense but once someone dies they're gone forever and even if their energy survives its not them its just watts ...

I still dearly miss and mourn some people who died

Just cos they're no longer as you knew them, there's still some of them existing

And besides, it's only in this world they died.

Anonymous
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wow this ****shit is deep.

But it doesn't matter what happens. Your energy is not proven to be your consciousness. Your energy might go somewhere or do something or whatever it is you're talking about. But you probably won't be aware of anything so who cares? lol

A
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