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Topic: How to weigh your own head? (Read 11980 times) |
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wonderful
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How to weigh your own head?
« on: Jun 4th, 2008, 8:22pm » |
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The above question has been discussed in a number of forums. However, it seems that there has been no convincing solution sofar.
Can you suggest a solution?
Have A Great Day!
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cheesepuff
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #1 on: Jun 4th, 2008, 8:44pm » |
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You could always cut off your head and put it on a scale 
or you could just take an exact measure amount of bone, flesh, blood, brain, etc of you brain and add it up accordingly
Of you could cut off someone else's head and weigh it, and then compare the size linearly with the sizes
Or you could just lie down and put your head on a scale, then knock yourself off so your muscles can no longer interfere with your measures
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errrrrrrrrrrr........ 24
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black_death
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #2 on: Jun 4th, 2008, 9:29pm » |
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immerse yourself in water such that only your head is above water .... 
well on second thoughts this solution is wrong .... so kindly ignore
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| « Last Edit: Jun 4th, 2008, 9:29pm by black_death » |
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Jigsaw
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #3 on: Jun 4th, 2008, 9:59pm » |
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on Jun 4th, 2008, 9:29pm, black_death wrote:immerse yourself in water such that only your head is above water ....
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I found this in wiki.
Quote:| The net upward buoyancy force is equal to the magnitude of the weight of fluid displaced by the body. |
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Now do as Black Death has told. Place the weighing machine inside the water, stand on it such that only your head is above the water's surface and note down the reading as your apparent weight. The weight of your head is equal to the difference of your actual weight and the apparent weight just found. [edit] You can't find it this way.[/edit]
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| « Last Edit: Jun 5th, 2008, 1:26am by jagatsastry » |
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towr
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #4 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 12:39am » |
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on Jun 4th, 2008, 9:59pm, Jigsaw wrote:| Place the weighing machine inside the water, stand on it such that only your head is above the water's surface and note down the reading as your apparent weight. The weight of your head is equal to the difference of your actual weight and the apparent weight just found. |
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The body has almost the same density as water (it differs per person, and most people do sink). Which means the body is almost weightless in water. And that in turn means that if you take the actual weight minus the apparent weight, you get almost the weight of the body minus the head (but not quite, it may be one or two heads off, I reckon).
I can find the buoyancy of the head, or body, or weight of body+head, but I don't see how to get either head or body by itself. Approximating those by their buoyancy would be inaccurate. Unless perhaps you have reliable data for heads to relate buoyancy and weight. (But then we're back to cutting people's heads off; well, at least it's not your own.)
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Jigsaw
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #5 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 1:37am » |
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Assume your body has uniform density(d). Find the volume of your body( Volume(v1) of water displaced by immersing yourself completely in it). Now find the volume(v2) of the water displaced with only your head above the water surface. The volume occupied by your head is v1-v2. Density of your body d= W/v1.
Weight of your head= (v1-v2)*d.
I've a feeling that something's wrong.
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towr
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #6 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 1:42am » |
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on Jun 5th, 2008, 1:37am, Jigsaw wrote:| I've a feeling that something's wrong. |
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Just the assumption that body has uniform density. But it'll give a decent approximation, I think.
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black_death
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #7 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 4:46am » |
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on Jun 5th, 2008, 1:37am, Jigsaw wrote:Assume your body has uniform density(d). Find the volume of your body( Volume(v1) of water displaced by immersing yourself completely in it). Now find the volume(v2) of the water displaced with only your head above the water surface. The volume occupied by your head is v1-v2. Density of your body d= W/v1.
Weight of your head= (v1-v2)*d.
I've a feeling that something's wrong. |
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thats what i also initially thought ... but i feel that water displaced will be same in both the cases
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ssa
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #8 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 5:44am » |
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chop off your twin's head and put it on a scale.
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #9 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 6:02am » |
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on Jun 5th, 2008, 5:44am, ssa wrote:| chop off your twin's head and put it on a scale. |
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Hey, that's not nice! Anyway, your twin might annoyingly point out that it should be your head.
I have a better idea:
Get a nice, head-shaped bucket and put it on a weighing scale. Note how much the bucket weighs.
Now nip out to the shops and buy a guillotine.
Stick your head through the guillotine, note where your head would fall, and mark this spot carefully with chalk.
Position the bucket and scale on said chalk mark while marvelling at your own foresight.
Finally, stick your head through the guillotine and pull the switch, confident in the knowledge that you have thought of everything.
Neat, eh?
I'm sure your twin will be happy to do the sums.
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| « Last Edit: Jun 6th, 2008, 6:51am by ThudnBlunder » |
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THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH.....................................................................er, if that's all right with the rest of you.
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Jigsaw
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #10 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 6:28am » |
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on Jun 5th, 2008, 4:46am, black_death wrote:
thats what i also initially thought ... but i feel that water displaced will be same in both the cases |
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No, it isn't the same, as vol(man)+vol(water) should remain constant(considering other factors as being constant).
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Frumious Bandersnatch
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #11 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 9:35am » |
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Go to your local butcher and ask him, "If my head were veal, which I know that it is not, how much would it be worth?" Then divide his answer by the price of veal per pound to get the weight of your head in pounds.
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Grimbal
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #12 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 1:35pm » |
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Is the blood in the head part of the head?
Anyway, a neighbor told me that he has been scanned from the head to the feet and the machine gave back a full breakdown of how much muscle, fat and bone he had*. The total weight was within 100g of his real weight. It would be easy for that software to give the weight of the head only.
* I don't know where the brain fits in.
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cheesepuff
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #13 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 1:44pm » |
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In the old posts, did anyone know the answer or the poster himself had no clue either?
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errrrrrrrrrrr........ 24
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towr
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #14 on: Jun 5th, 2008, 1:53pm » |
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on Jun 5th, 2008, 1:35pm, Grimbal wrote:| * I don't know where the brain fits in. |
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It's mostly fat.
I have it on google's authority that the brain is 60% fat. I would guess the other 40% is mostly water. I wonder if brains float.
[edit]Completely forgotten protein there, haven't I. hmm[/edit]
[edit2]And then another site says the brain is 75% water; if you can't even trust random websites on the internet anymore, what is the world coming to?[/edit2]
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| « Last Edit: Jun 5th, 2008, 2:02pm by towr » |
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #16 on: Jun 6th, 2008, 6:58am » |
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on Jun 5th, 2008, 8:09pm, wonderful wrote:FYI, here is a website that discusses the same
question: |
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All the questions and answers posted (and accepted) to that site, used to be available online.
But since they decided to bring out a book of them, we are limited to just one page per section.
The only other source is Guardian Weekly, and only if you subscribe.
Such is the onward march of commerce!
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| « Last Edit: Jun 6th, 2008, 6:59am by ThudnBlunder » |
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alien2
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #17 on: Jun 6th, 2008, 11:38am » |
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Quote:| How to weigh your own head? |
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Replace the pillow with the scale.
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Icecalibur
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #18 on: Jun 6th, 2008, 12:00pm » |
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Iceman! Long time, no see, mon cher! 
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alien2
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #19 on: Jun 6th, 2008, 12:51pm » |
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I wondered where did I put my talking sword. 
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thomamat68W
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #20 on: Jul 4th, 2013, 11:49pm » |
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The only way I know of to weigh one's own head with 100% accuracy is to enter space. Everything is weightless. Finding it's mass however, would be much more difficult.
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swapnilraja1212
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #21 on: Sep 18th, 2013, 1:41am » |
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You can do it approximately by the following method: if you assume that the average density of tissue and bone in your head is similar to that in the rest of your body (taken as a whole), then all you need to do is determine the volume of your head, the volume of the rest of your body, and then multiply the ratio of the two by your total body weight. To determine the volume of your head, fill a bathtub up to the rim and carefully immerse yourself in it completely - including your head. Collect the water that spills over the rim and measure its volume. This is the volume of your entire body. Then repeat the exercise, but this time keeping just your head above water. Measure the over spill again, and subtract this from the volume of over spill on the previous occasion. The amount remaining is equal to the volume of your head. Now take the ratio of the volume of your head alone, divided by the volume of your entire body. Multiply your total body weight by this number. The result is the weight of your head.
Thanks
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alien2
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #22 on: Sep 19th, 2013, 1:43am » |
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Archimedes' principle, eh?
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martinly
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #23 on: Dec 2nd, 2013, 1:31am » |
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on Jun 4th, 2008, 8:44pm, cheesepuff wrote:| cut off your head and put it on a scale |
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=))))))))) anyone dare to try?
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erica
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Re: How to weigh your own head?
« Reply #24 on: Jan 25th, 2014, 4:01am » |
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I found this thread interesting!
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