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What is the volume of a human? 2

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MintJulep

Mechanical
Jun 12, 2003
10,100
Does anyone have access to a credible data source that lists the volume occupied by a 50th percentile human body?
 
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Fill your tub up - submerse yourself and yell "Eureka". Clean up the mess and measure the water.

I beleive it was Archimedes that figured that out about 2,000 years ago or so.

Since we are something like 96% water - at 175 lbs / 62.4 lbs water / cubic foot.... Something around 3 cubic feet??

Seems a bit low as I look at myself....
 
How exact do you need to be? Are you talking actual volume taken by the body itself? I would think that would be very easy to calculate, given that the SG of the body is very nearly 1 depending on the state of the lungs. 50th percentile weight should be readily available from many sources.

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)
 
I am not sure if your question (short as it was) was targeted towards someone with immediate data to provide an asnwer to you, or if you were asking for potential data sources. Here are two of the latter:



Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
 
You better factor in food and alcoholic consumption, if applicable, before using the trusted equation below

volume = mass (50th percentile person) /density (water)
 
If everyone is willing to go home tonight, submit themselves to Mike's experiment and report back in the morning that would be sufficient.

My quick tape-measure approximation of myself, approximating torso, arms and legs as cylinders yields 2.3 cubic feet.

I am sure that the Army has subjected numerous soldiers to a dunking, and the data is published - I don't have access to any human factors info at the moment.

 
I "heard" that the average human can scream around 100 dB, how's that for volume?
 
Darn Mint, you beat me to suggesting something like that.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
 
In the pool I can sit on the bottom with lungs deflated. Or I can just about float with lungs inflated. So I reckon I have the same density as water on average. Volume = mass/density.

50th percentile human mass is much harder to get information about. It's probably very location-dependent.

- Steve
 
Yes, 50th percentile human mass varies with spacetime.
 
Mint I have to ask the obvious question. Why in the world are you wanting this information? Are you disposing of bodies, again?

Luck is a difficult thing to verify and therefore should be tested often. - Me
 
Quite a mundane need actually.

If you have a room full of people, how many cubic feet of air do they displace?
 
People are not closed systems to displace air, rather intake and out-gass as continuous functions.
 
Civliperson,

I was not interested in their respiratory rates. I wanted to know what I stated - how much air does a human body displace.
 
Well, I think my volume varies greatly from a Sunday afternoon (after a good weekend of praying to Baco *<|:)) to a Thursday (after paying my respects to the gym for a week :-().

Now, I do think that the average volume varies a lot depending on your geographical region, and very gender specific. Where is you 'research' focused at? I have taken a newfie to Japan and trust me, the volume difference is far from similar (more like a two to one)

Now, Civilperson got me thinking…. If I am floating on my back and pass gas, do I get propelled or just sink….? Gotta try it.


<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying ” Damn that was fun!” - Unknown>>
 
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