# Drink a glass of water, how much is dinosaur pee?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drink-a-glass-of-water-how-much-is-dinosaur-pee/668319>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 8, 2013, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drink-a-glass-of-water-how-much-is-dinosaur-pee/668319 "2013-09-08T09:01:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drink-a-glass-of-water-how-much-is-dinosaur-pee/668319/21 "2013-09-09T16:04:07Z")

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> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> That is some awesome science right there. I would not have guessed the question could be answered, but damn, somebody figured out a way! I’m not sure what the utility of that is (other than answering ponderous questions on an internet discussion site 70 years later), but it’s still cool.

[Here’s](http://bcs.whfreeman.com/thelifewire/content/chp08/0802001.html) more information on the subject. These experiments were some of the first to use isotopic tracers in biology. It’s now standard methodology.

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drink-a-glass-of-water-how-much-is-dinosaur-pee/668319/22 "2013-09-09T17:28:00Z")

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p.s. That creek is completely dried up as I write this. I live in the upper Midwest, which is in the midst of a horrific drought. ☹

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drink-a-glass-of-water-how-much-is-dinosaur-pee/668319/23 "2013-09-09T20:41:16Z")

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> [@Colibri](#):
>
> I recall an article by Isaac Asimov in which he calculated how many billion oxygen atoms once breathed by Julius Caesar were in each breath you take.

Never mind “Once breathed by Caesar”. Consider Caesar’s last breath. John Allen Paulos calculated that there is a 98% chance that your last breath contains at least one molecule from Caesar’s last breath. [http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable\_type/archives/001392.html](http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable_type/archives/001392.html)

Admittedly the author assumes that only a trivial share of molecules were vented to outer space or sea or the Earth.

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drink-a-glass-of-water-how-much-is-dinosaur-pee/668319/24 "2013-09-10T07:02:33Z")

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> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> Never mind “Once breathed by Caesar”. Consider Caesar’s last breath. John Allen Paulos calculated that there is a 98% chance that your last breath contains at least one molecule from Caesar’s last breath. [http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable\_type/archives/001392.html](http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable_type/archives/001392.html)
> 
> …

Decent username/post combo right here.

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