What happens to Your Atoms after you die? The Immortal Infinite Journey.

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What happens to your atoms when you die? About 100 billion people have died since the dawn of humanity. Since the law of conservation of matter says that matter cannot be created or destroyed, all their atoms have to be still be around.

The two most common human practices for disposing of dead bodies is burial underground and cremation. The majority of the molecules in your body are in the form of H2O or water. This will either evaporate out of the body and into the atmosphere, or be leached out into the ground. The rate of this leaching depends on the temperature and condition of the soil and the atmosphere to which the body is exposed.

The vast majority of water even if it is in liquid form will enter earths water cycle where it will be eventually heated into steam, go up into the clouds, and come down as rain water. Much of this will eventually end up in rivers and lakes, and subsequently in your drinking water. Some of the rain water will be absorbed by plants. That water will be used in the process of photosynthesis, where the water and carbon dioxide, along with sunlight are involved in a chemical reaction that produces carbohydrates and oxygen. You and other fellow human beings will breathe this oxygen produced by plants to sustain your lives.

And what about the carbohydrates produced from the water in photosynthesis? You and your fellow animals will eat it in the form of fruits and vegetables. And guess what, in the process of metabolizing all the carbohydrate food from plants, you will produce the food for plants – carbon dioxide and water. And the cycle repeats itself.

What happens to all your soft tissues? Your soft tissues are composed of carbohydrates, fats and proteins that get metabolized with the help of about 100 trillion bacteria that live in your body. But wait, where did all these bacteria come from? And why aren’t they eating your right now? They have been living in your body all along – mostly in your gut – your small and large intestines.

Your body has a very robust immune system which keeps these 100 trillion bacteria in your body in check. However, once you die, your immune system stops working. So your bacteria now have a field day consuming all the tissues in your body. The bacteria metabolize all the soft tissues and use it for energy and reproduction.

Other gases besides Carbon Dioxide and Water vapor are also produced. Proteins in your body for example have nitrogen atoms. And these are metabolized into nitrogen oxides NO, NO2, N2O etc, and ammonia NH3 – which by the way are potent greenhouse gases. Nitrogen oxides are about 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide for example. Once the oxygen begins to run out, then anaerobic bacteria go to work. These bacteria don’t need oxygen to metabolize your tissues. But they produce Methane, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia as by products – the smelly gases.

These eventually escape the body and become part of the atmosphere. So when you go outside and smell something funny in the air, it is possible that you are inhaling atoms that came from your great grandma. Other molecules are released as nutrients into the underlying soil.

What about cremation? When we are cremated, the majority of atoms in your body which are hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur are turned into gases due to the high heat of the burning process. These gases enter the atmosphere in the form of water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. But as you know several kilograms of a you will be in the form of ash left over from the cremation process. An interesting statistic is that your ashes weigh About the same as your birth weight.

What are these ashes composed of? Phosphate and Calcium make up your bones. So that’s where these atoms come from.
What happens to these ashes? These ashes are likely to make their way eventually to soil, where they will be incorporated into the structure of plants. These plants will be eaten by animals and humans, and end up back in your body. Eventually, tiny bits of you will end up in your great grandchildren’s morning cereal or hamburger.

But there is one big exception: your body also has a tiny amount of radioactive elements. Tiny amounts of thorium and uranium will eventually become lead. But along with this decay, some atoms of helium will also be formed. Earth’s gravity isn't strong enough to hold helium to our planet, and so tiny bits of what once was you will float off into space. So some of your atoms are in for a fantastical and exciting journey forever floating to the farthest reaches of the universe until the end of time.

You and your family can take some comfort that science says that every single vibration of every single atom of you will always be around.
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My husband just died suddenly. This article makes me happy. I will walk in the rain with no umbrella.

jeantyler
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We're all made out of energy, energy Never Dies it just changes forms.
Remember me thanks for sharing I appreciate it🌺

lilab.stevenson
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The best 8 minutes of learning l've had in a long time and it answered some important questions for me, Thanks Arvin Ash.

rotortiller
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Fascinating... Everyone should be taught this in school, not just in college courses!
It wasn't taught in any of my classes in K-12?

KM-wfyx
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This makes me feel that I was never born, but existed always. Other previous life forms (humans and others) already existed, and their atoms leached out, only to form me - just to leak out to form someone else. It's like some continuous process of forming and reforming the same elements, that will just continue to go on forever. The existence of anyone had been already always existing and will continue to retake new forms of existence over and over and over ....until the Earth itself dies. Hmm - sounds pretty dull. I wish I could extract more joy from it. I know the atoms did exist and will continue to exist, but my personal self-awareness of me and my memory of my personal individual and unique life - my whole consciousness - did NOT exist before my birth/conception. And that's what is sad to lose. But then if consciousness is my ideas and memories and critical thinking, then I can at least record it, video-tape it, and those ideas will continue to exist

eeomwyu
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Great! I always wanted to know I'm drinking dead people when I go to the kitchen tap 🤣

DoctaOsiris
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Nothing. Because nothing really ever dies. It only changes form. On the microscopic level.

martin
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Losing someone you love is the most painful event any of us can ever have to deal with.

dickbuster
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It’s a beautiful thought. Thanks for making the video.

james
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Technically we all share the same body, if we're always trading each others atoms

KuraSourTakanHour
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pretty cool vid, i had kinda thought about it that way. but you put it together reeeaaal nice and had good facts behind you! very satisfied view👍

idahogreen
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I never saw my grandparents in my life
They died before i was born
I was sad, but now i find there presence all around me
Thanks for making such a wonderful video, Arvin sir!

biswa
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Being eighty eight years old, it was nice to see that I'll still be of some use to the earth when I finally kick the bucket! You handled this delicate subject so well - I almost died laughing!!!

darwinvickers
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Absolutely fascinating. One of the most thought provoking videos I've watched on YouTube. Incredible insights. Mind absolutely blown.

alexb
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It's always reassuring to hear this message across space and time. Many thanks to you and your team for spreading this message, no pun intended!

danielwatson
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OMG...this has been so beautifully and simply and clearly explained. Amazing.

tillywitch
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My beautiful wife passed away 4 years ago after 33 years of marriage.
I have not been doing well since that day in May of 2016. But I have some hope that if I continue to live a life of compassionate God loving person that maybe I will be with her again someday.
There's always hope.

johnsacco
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Arvin Ash, what a great video. You do such a great job. It will not be long till you get 100k subscribers.

mikeedwards
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That’s a beautiful way to put it to know that we contribute to nature after we are gone

randyscott
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This is such a good video! This makes total sense to me, it is so true that everything everywhere is connected.

LSTAR