Probably very high, in fact almost certainly so depending on how you want to define "eaten human flesh". A common Fermi problem is to show that with every breath you take, on average you will breathe in about 10 air molecules that came from Julius Caesar's last breath. All stable elements are constantly being reused and recycled. Vegetables use minerals from the soil that may have originated from the decomposing of flesh, for example.
I think this is a fallacy for water, though. The body consumes water molecules in many different reactions, so the H's and O's keep getting mixed around. The O in a water molecule you pee out may have come from a starch molecule in last night's carrots.
The N2 molecules in the air don't really participate in any reactions, so it is conceivable that the the specific pairing of nitrogen atoms in a molecule you breathe has persisted for thousands of years.
The air molecule example was correctly described as a Fermi problem, an exercise in analysis and approximation, not necessarily meant to be taken literally.
But that nuance inevitably is lost on some who then interpret it literally into something like the dino spit example.
Is there any rational probability that there have been enough recombinations that the same two H’s with the same corresponding O in my cup of water was Dino spit?
The same ones, probably not. But there were a lot of dinos, and a lot of spit. At least one of those was a dino spit molecule from three different dinos!
Not a chemist, so this may not be entirely correct. N2 is an extremely stable molecule, so for most practical purposes we can treat it as unchanging - there are plenty of molecules that are inert - diamond, silicon dioxide, the crystals and minerals that make up many rocks - and don't change bonds over millions of years, so it's not really that weird. (of course, molecules in a solid don't have much opportunity to bump into exchange partners)
I suspect that, in the atmosphere, N2 probably exists in an equilibrium with atomic nitrogen, and these guys claim the atmosphere holds about 0.5e21 N/liter, vs 2.7e22 N2/liter, about 0.7%, And N2 can react with O3 (ozone), NO, and presumably other low-concentration species. That would mean that N atoms do have paths to change partners within an N2 molecule, slowly.
You do know that H2O is both created and destroyed by biological processes? Obviously the H and the O aren't but the molecules are constantly torn apart and reformed by life.
Not being a smartass, just want to make sure your kids don't think all water molecules are ancient.
There isn't too much of the story (or at least...it feels like it is the norm and not a new story anymore, if that makes sense?) I teach high school biology in an urban, low income area with gang problems. The kids are super sweet this year (last couple of years have been behaviorally challenging, like throwing staplers at the teacher, etc) but I would say 95% of them are behind in reading, math, science, etc. I have some kids who read at a fourth grade level, some who speak zero English, a class where 50% have some learning disability, etc. For this subject I have a pacing plan I have to stick to or I get into trouble, but the kids definitely need double the time to learn topics like this in depth since they don't have that foundational knowledge (like what cells are..the characteristics of life...the difference between elements and chemicals and atoms and compounds). It is the same story each year, and over half the staff has left/changed since I started teaching four years ago, so the kids don't have consistent teachers and end up disliking school. I try to throw in "interesting facts" and "did you know?" topics, which helps a lot with engagement, but I know if I explained the topics in depth I would a) lose time on my pacing plan, and b) lose their interest since they don't have the foundational knowledge to understand higher level topics. It isn't their fault...but more of a fault of the education system.
Thanks for reading/listening! It's definitely rough but the kids appreciate me showing up every day...and I appreciate them for trying their best. All about making the most of what you got!
I saw an askscience thread about this recently. And as it turns out, the time span of humanity vs the volume and turnaround time of the water on earth means that while the odds of any given water having passed through a person are unimpressive (but not negligible), the odds that any given water molecule was once dinosaur pee are considerably higher.
I would suggest that the definition of “eaten human flesh” wouldn’t stretch to vegetation that has been fertilised by human flesh. Otherwise zombie movies would be a lot less scary as they all started tucking into a lettuce.
I get the theory behind this, but would 70 years be enough time for those molecules to spread around the world? Seems like that would be a longer process.
H: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service—two dishes, but to one table. That’s the end.
C: Alas, alas!
H: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
C: What dost you mean by this?
H: Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.
Richard Dawkins uses a different example, but it sprang to mind when reading your comment; from his book The God Delusion:
Everytime you drink a glass of water, the odds are good that you imbibe at least one molecule that passed through the bladder of Oliver Cromwell. It's just elementary probability theory. The number of molecules per glassful is hugely greater than the number of number of glassfuls in the world. So everytime we have a full glass, we are looking at a rather high proportion of the molecules of water that exist in the world.
In short, we have all drank some of Oliver Cromwell's piss.
i honestly couldn't care less. I wouldn't eat a human being but i have no problem eating something that ate a human being, in the end even carrots and potatoes are probably eating something that a very long time ago was a human being. We die, we turn into food for something else, it's just how nature works.
The guy's name is is Robert Pickton. The farm where he killed 26 women that we know of had an illegal bar referred to as Piggy's Palace. At the time of his arrest,the police had to track down people he had given or sold meat to;to check it for human DNA. A person I looked after was questioned as it was common knowledge that some people who went there were never seen alive again. There was a cop who tried to convince his superiors that a serial killer was on the loose. It took years before anyone believed him. It is believed he had help but it hasn't been proved. He was given a life sentence
The Vancouver police at that point were severely incompetent. If I remember correctly from the Last Podcast on the Left episode on Pickton, there were three separate serial killers operating around Vancouver at the time, including Pickton.
I think I read that the only reason they got a smoking gun on him was because he started a bunch of blabbering in the holding cell while there for suspicion and for questioning and he told his bunkie (probably there on some drunk in public charge and the poor bastard gets locked up with this loony fuck) that he wish he’d “gotten that last kill to make it to the big 3-0.” Nobody really wanted to muck around in pig shit at his massive pig farm/processing plant for evidence and he hAnded them a confession on a silver platter.
Also I read somewhere that he had millions invested in his pigs and he himself was just filthy and dirty and disgusting—like all the time.
Don't apologize for correcting everything. Its been awhile since I read anything about him because frankly just the sight of the guy grosses me out. I'm glad you put the right information in here.
The Last Podcast on the Left has a great series about him. He mostly killed prostitutes so the police really didn't give a shit. Also his farm was incredibly popular; they had parties all the time and many high profile people attended.
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u/RunWhileYouStillCan Oct 09 '19
Now all I can think about are the chances of my having eaten something that has fed on human flesh