Weighing for God
Today I noticed 21 Grams is on at my local cinema, and it reminded me of this article in Life, the weekly science and technology supplement in The Guardian. According to the film’s posters, we will all lose 21 grams in weight at the precise moment of our deaths.
The movie’s promotional blurb moves quickly to quash those tempted to guestimate how much body fluid and gas one might expel in a parting gesture to cause a 21g drop in weight by inquiring: “Is it a person’s soul that constitutes those twenty one grams?” (Quick answer: no.)
The article explores the origin of the 21 gram myth.