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The 21-Gram Soul: Can Science Really Weigh Your Spirit?
A century-old experiment claimed your soul weighs as much as a candy bar. Was it real science or just wishful thinking?
In 1907, Dr. Duncan MacDougall made an extraordinary claim: the human soul weighs exactly 21 grams. His experiment, designed to measure the weight of the soul at the precise moment of death, has captured the public imagination for more than a century. But was there any science behind it, or is this just another example of wishful thinking in a world eager for spiritual answers?
Let’s unpack the experiment, its flaws, and why the 21-gram theory still haunts us today.
A Weighty Experiment: Science Meets Spirituality
Dr. MacDougall, a physician in Massachusetts, believed the human soul had mass, and he set out to prove it. His idea was simple: if the soul has weight, then a person should lose that weight at the exact moment of death. Armed with a scale sensitive enough to detect the slightest change, MacDougall observed the death of six terminally ill patients. After each death, he noted a sudden loss of weight, which he averaged to 21 grams. Thus, the “21 grams” of the human soul was born.
