Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: neilep on 03/10/2007 17:15:17
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What is the advantage of deep freezing a person (and causing oodles of frozen cell damage) over vacuum packing them and just sealing them in a complete vacuum ?
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I think the vacuum packing would still have the effect of deteriorating over time where as there might be less deterioration with the deep freezing at a stable temperature! I could be wrong as I am comparing my vacuum sealer on foods in comparison to freezer items and the vacuum sealed foods last a long while but not near the time as my frozen foods!
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I could probably get 6 of you all squished into my freezer and with the deep freeze set and a full freezer there is less air circulation and barring someone is not opening it up all the time things last for a very long time. I have eaten many things frozen for well over a year.. so thats kind of where I am at.. there is no way unless you vacuum seal them in a pack and deep freeze in my opinion that you could keep a body in good condition near as long as a deep freeze or cryogenics.
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The reason you are going to deteriorate is that a series of chemical reactions within your cells and tissues will take place that damage them. Plus bacteria will essentially digest you. If there is oxygen then different processes will occur faster but others will still occur without it.
Cooling things down on the other hand slows down all chemical reactions and if you get it cold enough it virtually stops everything so preserving the body.
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Thanks dave nice to know the reason for the deteriorating!
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Interesting Neil.
When I moved into our new home some 20 years ago, we had a well established palm tree with a nice thick trunk, obviously around 10 years old or more. We were doing a fair bit of landscaping and moved 74 tonnes of soil with a wheelbarrow, shovel and pick, and laid 12 tonnes of concrete mixed by shovel.
During this work, I had to move this palm tree, so down and down I dug trying to find the end of the main tap root. During which I came across a black cat sealed in a polythene bag. The cat had been down there for a long time. I lived here for 3 years before I dug it up. It showed no evidence of decomposing, although I refrained from opening the bag (didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag) and buried it once more, it occurred to me that sealing meat in a bag might preserve the meat far longer than the expiry date on the Supermarket label.
Now the bacterium from the gut should have digested the cat, but it did not. The hair had not fallen out from the skin either.
The cat is still in the bag, and still in my garden if anyone wants to dig it up it has been down there for possibly 30 years except for the brief hour or so when I unearthed it.
You might be onto something there Neil. Maybe if we become cannibals in the future when we have completely devastated our planet, we could survive on well preserved carcasses for many more years giving nature a chance to recover while humans are busy eating their ancestors.
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Your previous house owner wasn't called Schroedinger, was he?
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Cooling things down on the other hand slows down all chemical reactions and if you get it cold enough it virtually stops everything so preserving the body.
Just the body, right? If a living person is cooled down to the point that everything stops that means it includes the heart, right?
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Deep freeze is best because it needs continual energy input, so adds to global warming and ongoing profits. If your descendants don't pay, you rot. No ongoing revenue stream with vacuum packing and you rot anyway.