Exchange of substances between human organism and environment

[danecek]

Please, could anyone help me find answer to the following problem?

 

I would like to have some clearer idea regarding the speed in which human organisms exchange their substances with the environment. Particularly, I would like to know how long it can take to an average adult human organism living in usual circumstances on the Earth to exchange 50 per cent of its hadrons with the environment.

 

I prefer to take the problem to the quite extreme level of hadrons, because the hadrons are the biggest particles in the human body that meet simultaneously both of the below conditions:

 

1) The weight of any human body is almost directly proportionate to their number in the body.

2) They mutually almost do not differ in their weight (all neutrons weight effectively the same, all protons weight effectively the same, and there is only negligible difference between the weight of any neutron and the weight of any proton).

 

 

In the past, I tried to ask both biologists and physicists about the solution of the problem, but unfortunately to no avail. So, now I dare to ask experts in biochemistry and molecular biology, who know something both about the human organism and the sub-atomic particles.

 

Thank you very much in advance for any advice as regards how the estimate of period necessary for the exchange of 50 per cent of hadrons could be figgured out.

[danecek]

Few days have passed - and no anwer yet. It looks like people (both scientists and non-scientists) don't like to see themselves as piles of hadrons, although almost all human weight consists of nothing else but neutrons and protons.

 

 

Or is there at least some clue to any satisfactory answer to my question?

 

 

Does anyone have at least slightest idea how they would seek the answer say with some dedicated budget?

[the asinine cretin]

Few days have passed - and no anwer yet. It looks like people (both scientists and non-scientists) don't like to see themselves as piles of hadrons, although almost all human weight consists of nothing else but neutrons and protons.

How DARE you! I love being a pile of hadrons...

[Realitycheck]

"98% of the 10^28 atoms in the body are replaced in the body every year." Dossey. Space, Time, and Medicine. October, 1982.

 

Actually, pretty hard to believe considering the permancy of tattoos and the inefficiency of replacing all that bone.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Realitycheck

[baric]

What would be the purpose or usefulness of this information?

[danecek]

"98% of the 10^28 atoms in the body are replaced in the body every year." Dossey. Space, Time, and Medicine. October, 1982.

 

Actually, pretty hard to believe considering the permancy of tattoos and the inefficiency of replacing all that bone.

 

 

Well, Larry Dossey doesn't look like an obvious pundit in the area (given the work he dedicated to consciousness based healthcare, and specifically to so called "non-local mind", according to Wikipedia), but given the weight of a hydrogen atom (circa 1.67 x 10^-27 kg), at least the decimal order of amount of atoms in an average human body that he gives looks plausible enough; indeed, Dossey might have had a good primary source for the claim about the usual speed of atom replacement in a human body, too.

 

 

As to the permanency of permanent tattoos, to me it's true mystery - if only for the short life cycle of skin cells. It looks as though the permanent dye somehow replicates itself...

 

 

 

Anyway, thank you very much for your interesting reply.

 

What would be the purpose or usefulness of this information?

 

Nothing that would make electricity cheaper or sovereign debts lower. I would only like to have a clearer idea about the nature of humans as well as other animals or living organisms in general. Particularly, if something like human organisms exchange their atomic or sub-atomic particles with the environment so quickly as claimed in Realitycheck's quote of Larry Dossey, to me it makes sense to seriously ponder over what - if anything - constitutes the identity of those organisms in the course of time.

[ishbar]

"98% of the 10^28 atoms in the body are replaced in the body every year." Dossey. Space, Time, and Medicine. October, 1982.

 

Actually, pretty hard to believe considering the permancy of tattoos and the inefficiency of replacing all that bone.

 

Well it all has to do with object density, I think! The ink (as far as I know) is inorganic, so while the layers of skin above the hypodermis may visibly replace with newer skin, the ink pools into the dermis and that is why it probably takes so long. So although the cells may die, and replace, they can't simply expel the ink as waste as a dead cell may be expelled--since there is no means of removing it biologically speaking to begin with. (Just a guess, not citing anything). Now getting back to bones, they are porous, are they not? So while it may not be practical to think of the 98% constantly changing molecular composition of our bodies, to include something as difficult to replace like bone--dependent on vitmins--there is probably not a whole lot of surface area to any given bone if you were to factor out the empty space. (Just another conclusion made from briefly thinking about the issue).

 

Curious though, how does that translate into Molar units cycled out each year?