runninglama1130 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 Approximately how many atoms from a person’s body, with whom I have frequent contact, would I have in my own body? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 Not enough info. Does “Atoms from a person’s body” include air atoms that one has inhaled/exhaled? What counts as an atom being “in your body”? Does frequent contact include swapping bodily fluids (i.e. sex)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runninglama1130 Posted December 8, 2021 Author Share Posted December 8, 2021 Atoms that are part of one’s physical make up (muscles, fat, bones, nerves). Frequent contact does not include shared body fluids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sensei Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 If you smell something, your nose has picked up atoms of something, such as the smell of skin... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermack Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 Covid is transferred on droplets. Those droplets were once part of another human. The atoms of the virus were also once part of another human. And covid isn't the only virus. If you smell my fart, your nose has trapped atoms from my body. Your lungs would also retain some of the fart atoms or fartoms, as they are know by biologists. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beecee Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 26 minutes ago, mistermack said: If you smell my fart, your nose has trapped atoms from my body. Your lungs would also retain some of the fart atoms or fartoms, as they are know by biologists. My farts don't smell. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringJunky Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 48 minutes ago, beecee said: My farts don't smell. I suggest mushy peas and vinegar will cure that problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 1 hour ago, runninglama1130 said: Atoms that are part of one’s physical make up (muscles, fat, bones, nerves). Frequent contact does not include shared body fluids. Still so many variables! We radiate a lot of molecules even if we aren't exchanging fluids. Does sweat from moist hands count as a fluid exchange, since it could be one way only? How long ago did you bathe? Are you looking for skin cells left behind from shaking hands, and other bits of someone else you might wash off, or are you looking for bits from someone else you've accidentally incorporated into your own system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringJunky Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Phi for All said: Still so many variables! We radiate a lot of molecules even if we aren't exchanging fluids. Does sweat from moist hands count as a fluid exchange, since it could be one way only? How long ago did you bathe? Are you looking for skin cells left behind from shaking hands, and other bits of someone else you might wash off, or are you looking for bits from someone else you've accidentally incorporated into your own system? If you think in a family home, there will be an exponential number of human-derived particles on every surface and in the air. You don't need physical contact to collect lots of 'samples' from other people. Edited December 8, 2021 by StringJunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joigus Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 I wouldn't worry too much about 'loan atoms'. Forget about atoms; they're pretty abstract thingies. The way they combine into macromolecules to form self-molecules, vs non-self molecules is far more significant. Whatever 'I' is, it's to do with information, and that's in how atoms hang out with each other, not in atom Sally meeting atom Tom. There are far fewer alien cells in your organism than there are self cells. Think about it. Quote A 'reference man' (one who is 70 kilograms, 20–30 years old and 1.7 metres tall) contains on average about 30 trillion human cells and 39 trillion bacteria, say Ron Milo and Ron Sender at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and Shai Fuchs at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. So, what's the big deal about 'foreign atoms'? There are 39 trillion non-self things living in you. I hope that doesn't give you nightmares, and I hope it helps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beecee Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 1 hour ago, StringJunky said: I suggest mushy peas and vinegar will cure that problem. 😁 Which raises the question, what do you call someone that enjoys the smell of his own farts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringJunky Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 5 minutes ago, beecee said: 😁 Which raises the question, what do you call someone that enjoys the smell of his own farts? sad. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVat Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, mistermack said: Covid is transferred on droplets. Those droplets were once part of another human. The atoms of the virus were also once part of another human. And covid isn't the only virus. If you smell my fart, your nose has trapped atoms from my body. Your lungs would also retain some of the fart atoms or fartoms, as they are know by biologists. Scratch the surface of any science buff and you will discover an inner twelve year old. Fact. Or "farct," perhaps. Some years ago, I read an article that said every breath I take will have some atoms that DaVinci breathed out. I looked around, couldn't find the exact one, but this gives you the idea: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15020308-500-the-last-word/ The article is too delicate to suggest we are also breathing Leonardo's farts, but it does seem inescapable. Given that the laws of atmospheric chemistry also force us to absorb the flatus of all the scoundrels as well as all the geniuses, I guess we should find other sources of..... inspiration. Edited December 9, 2021 by TheVat Excess gas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runninglama1130 Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 For the last 3 years I have shared a small office with a colleague. We do not eat or drink after each other, and there is no sharing of body fluids. Approximately how many atoms of his cellular makeup have become part of my cellular makeup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 ! Moderator Note Threads merged Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 1 hour ago, runninglama1130 said: Approximately how many atoms of his cellular makeup have become part of my cellular makeup? Approximately not enough to matter very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exchemist Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 1 hour ago, runninglama1130 said: For the last 3 years I have shared a small office with a colleague. We do not eat or drink after each other, and there is no sharing of body fluids. Approximately how many atoms of his cellular makeup have become part of my cellular makeup? Relatively few, I should have thought. The only ways material can be incorporated in your cells are via respiration and metabolism, i.e. what you breathe in and out and what you eat and drink. Since nothing you eat and drink comes from your colleague we are really talking about breathing, specifically how many atoms from the CO2 and H2O you each exhale becomes incorporated in the other's cells. Since CO2 and water you breathe in does not become part of your cells to any significant extent, it would be the CO2 and H2O converted via photosynthesis to O2 and carbohydrate that you might subsequently breathe in or ingest. So if you want to minimise any exchange of atoms, get rid of all the office plants, and do not, on any account, eat any office-grown tomatoes. 😁 But as for numbers, it would be a difficult exercise to do, a huge range of assumptions would have to be made and the resulting telephone number would be essentially meaningless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVat Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 3 hours ago, runninglama1130 said: For the last 3 years I have shared a small office with a colleague. We do not eat or drink after each other, and there is no sharing of body fluids. Approximately how many atoms of his cellular makeup have become part of my cellular makeup? This seems to be a repackaging of the OP question you asked, which was extensively answered by several of us last month. You replied to none of them, nor absorbed apparently any of their points. Why the hell should I bother with this again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morphism Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 The most amazing question I can ever imagine of😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runninglama1130 Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 Thanks for all of the comments. Very interesting points were made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Smith Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) And nobody has mentioned Avogadro's number yet. (6.02214076×1023 mol−1) Edited January 10, 2022 by Arthur Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exchemist Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 21 minutes ago, Arthur Smith said: And nobody has mentioned Avogadro's number yet. (6.02214076×1023 mol−1) That was deliberate on my part, once I had decided that generating a telephone number, via a series of ad-hoc, wild assumptions, would be too tedious and ultimately fairly meaningless. But do feel free to have a go........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Smith Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 9 minutes ago, exchemist said: That was deliberate on my part, once I had decided that generating a telephone number, via a series of ad-hoc, wild assumptions, would be too tedious and ultimately fairly meaningless. But do feel free to have a go........ I'm more interested in where the edges of a human lie. Topologically we're distorted doughnuts so gut contents don't count? Bladder contents? Dead skin cells? 13 minutes ago, exchemist said: via a series of ad-hoc, wild assumptions Ah, I see your point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runninglama1130 Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 Thanks for the intriguing points made thus far? What about cells that I might invest from my coworkers sneezing or coughing? Might particles from those cells become part of my cellular make up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exchemist Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 31 minutes ago, runninglama1130 said: Thanks for the intriguing points made thus far? What about cells that I might invest from my coworkers sneezing or coughing? Might particles from those cells become part of my cellular make up? Well yes, to the extent that you swallow some of them and digest them. But that is going to be an infinitesimal proportion of your dietary intake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now