10mo ago

With the amount of microplastics we're carrying around in pretty much every tissue in our bodies, is our weight measurably different as a result?

If it is, I assume it's measured in thousandths of a gram or something, but are we all nevertheless a wee bit heavier than we ought to be?

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I'm not sure if you caught this post earlier today, but they say there's enough plastic in your brain to make a credit card these days..
https://lemmy.world/post/18963777
- Holy shit... 😬
  
  I know right?! ☹️
- Assuming there is a brain of course. I'm sometimes doubting that in some people. Maybe it's all plastic up there.
  
  Boomer take
  Hurr durr everyone else is a moron but not meeeeeeeeeee
- Holy shit, microplastics are defined as fragments smaller than 5mm????? I thought it's way smaller, 5mm is big enough to see with your naked eye!
- Nice! Can't lose it that way
  
  No, but now if you lose your mind, your credit card's gone, too.
I saw a meme earlier that said we had more than a credit card worth of plastic just in our brains so I'm going to say yes
are we all nevertheless a wee bit heavier than we ought to be?
Physics says, most plastic is lighter than water. Your body's overall density has decreased. That makes you a wee bit lighter.
Statistics says, sick people lose weight, and microplastic makes people sick. That makes our average weight even lighter.
- I've been eating plastic straws nonstop for days and I'm pretty sure I just levitated for a couple seconds
  
  So what has brought you back down?
- This only applies if there's plastic INSTEAD of tissue. In case there's plastic IN ADDITION to tissue, then it makes you heavier, but it still makes you less dense, so you can float better in water.
- This logic is flawed. If you stand on some scales and pick up a credit card, the scale will measure you are one credit card heavier. You don't get lighter by adding mass (at least when that mass is also denser then air). And what evidence is there that this plastic in our bodies is additional mass or replaced mass? That is the assumption your logic is based on.
  
  The example was about plastic in your brain.
  Now, the volume inside your skull is limited. I had assumed that this was a matter of course. And that's why I was talking about density.
  Same goes for the rest of the body: I always assume that the microplastic is replacing body mass.

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