Charlie Brown: Don’t think of it as dust. Think of it as maybe the soil of some great past civilization. Maybe the soil of ancient Babylon. It staggers the imagination. He may be carrying soil that was trod upon by Solomon, or even Nebuchudnezzar.
One molecule of air? The Earth is a closed system so yes, we contain molecules that were in others at some time. The issue is recombination. Air is mostly molecules of nitrogen, oxygen, water molecules, and carbon dioxide. Socrates would have exhaled all of those, but the carbon dioxide would have passed through plants which broke those molecules down and made different oxygen molecules. The oxygen he exhaled would have been inhaled by other animals, including humans, and broken down to make different carbon dioxide molecules, again to be rearranged into different molecules. Likewise plants would use the nitrogen to to make plant material that animals then eat. As for water vapor, I don’t know how frequently water molecules are broken down and recombined into something else so you might inhale a water molecule Socrates exhaled so just hope it didn’t carry any of his mucus.
seanfear 12 months ago
you are wiser already
stairsteppublishing 12 months ago
Oh think of all the famous and infamous people whose breath I am breathing. Not sure I want to do that. Some people were really disgusting.
Kwen 12 months ago
And, I guess , at least one that passed through the Petomane f..ts? Imperious Caesar…
TonysSon 12 months ago
The air of the Boston Strangler could leave you breathless.
Olddog1 12 months ago
Does this assume that Socrates never inhaled the same molecule twice?
Barnabus Blackoak 12 months ago
I prefer the Charlie Brown quote about dirt:
Charlie Brown: Don’t think of it as dust. Think of it as maybe the soil of some great past civilization. Maybe the soil of ancient Babylon. It staggers the imagination. He may be carrying soil that was trod upon by Solomon, or even Nebuchudnezzar.
ladykat 12 months ago
Nope, don’t feel any different. Oh, well.
Bill The Nuke 12 months ago
How many brain cells were sacrificed reading that useless trivia?
poppacapsmokeblower 12 months ago
One molecule of air? The Earth is a closed system so yes, we contain molecules that were in others at some time. The issue is recombination. Air is mostly molecules of nitrogen, oxygen, water molecules, and carbon dioxide. Socrates would have exhaled all of those, but the carbon dioxide would have passed through plants which broke those molecules down and made different oxygen molecules. The oxygen he exhaled would have been inhaled by other animals, including humans, and broken down to make different carbon dioxide molecules, again to be rearranged into different molecules. Likewise plants would use the nitrogen to to make plant material that animals then eat. As for water vapor, I don’t know how frequently water molecules are broken down and recombined into something else so you might inhale a water molecule Socrates exhaled so just hope it didn’t carry any of his mucus.
cuzinron47 12 months ago
That molecule has to be pretty stale by now.