# Dead Weight **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774 "2002-11-25T23:19:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774/1 "2002-11-25T23:19:21Z")
Do people really weigh more dead than when they were alive? If so, why? ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774/2 "2002-11-25T23:23:51Z")
No they don’t. The term “dead weight” is used when the person you are helping up, isn’t helping you back. My grandfather used to fall down (he was old, and suffered many ailments). I’d come over to help him up, I’d grab his arm and he wouldn’t even try to hold onto me. So lifting him was a real pain. Unlike, lifting someone who was helping. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774/3 "2002-11-25T23:31:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sleeping \* > \*\*Do people really weigh more dead than when they were alive? If so, why? \*\* No, but if you’re not using something like a body board or a stretcher, they are harder to carry when they’re dead, or sorta like dead, such as unconscious. If you try to carry someone in your arms who is conscious, they will usually be able to help a little, even if it’s only to help balance themselves. Someone who is unconscious (or dead) will not only be of no help, they are also limp, and so are harder to hold onto and balance. This make it much more difficult even though the weight is the same. Ugly ---
**Author:** ![xcheopis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bc8723/32.png) [@xcheopis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcheopis)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774/4 "2002-11-25T23:36:28Z")
Dead people have no muscle tension whereby one gets help in the lifting. When I was working in the anatomy lab, it was often a major chore just to lift the upper body of a cadaver high enough to slide a block under his/her neck. (Just lifting the head doesn’t work; you also have to lift the shoulders up a bit.) They don’t weigh more but it sure feels as if they do. ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774/5 "2002-11-26T01:17:33Z")
There’s your difference. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774/6 "2002-11-26T01:35:14Z")
An earlier thread on this subject: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=4939&highlight=dead](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=4939&highlight=dead) BTW, welcome to the boards. I see that this is obviously one of your first posts, as it was mine. However. . . Some years ago some “scientists” determined that a (literally) dead body actually weighed a small, but measurable amount _less_ that the live body. This was attributed to the soul’s having left the body. (I’m just reporting the “facts,” not vouching for them.) ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774/7 "2002-11-26T13:01:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mjollnir \* > \*\*An earlier thread on this subject: > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=4939&highlight=dead](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=4939&highlight=dead) > > BTW, welcome to the boards. I see that this is obviously one of your first posts, as it was mine. > > However. . . > > Some years ago some “scientists” determined that a (literally) dead body actually weighed a small, but measurable amount _less_ that the live body. This was attributed to the soul’s having left the body. (I’m just reporting the “facts,” not vouching for them.) \*\* Were these “scientists” employeed at the Weekly World News? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774/8 "2002-11-26T14:28:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meatros \* > Were these “scientists” employeed at the Weekly World News? No, unfortunately (if we’re thinking of the same people). They were employed at a Dutch university (I think it’s the Unversity of Delft). ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/138774/9 "2002-12-12T04:11:02Z")
“Some years ago some “scientists” determined that a (literally) dead body actually weighed a small, but measurable amount less that the live body. This was attributed to the soul’s having left the body. (I’m just reporting the “facts,” not vouching for them.)” Really? Are you sure it’s not something like, oh I don’t know, discharge (or the expulsion of gases or other organic matter being released)?