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The Human Being in Numbers: Last Lesson for Peter
Jan 1, 2012

Dear Peter!

Until today, almost all of your organs and systems introduced themselves and explained the great artistry in their creation along with their wisdom and precision. Certainly, these were not just for your information. Of course, it is important for you to know about your organs and their duties, and for you to live accordingly with this knowledge. However, its main purpose has been to introduce you to your Lord, who created you and all living and nonliving things perfectly. Just like seeing a work of art and not appreciating the artist is a twisted view, so is seeing the art exhibited on the body of the world's most dignified entity, the human being, and not appreciating our Lord. It would just be a worthless and pointless heap of knowledge.

Today, we will look at the human body statistically, have our last lesson, and say goodbye.

Before we talk about the systems and organs that make up your body, you should know that it is a blessing that God didn't leave you in nonexistence, and put you into existence. Then, you should know that it is also a blessing that He didn't leave you as inorganic molecules, but created you as a living organism. For you to understand better, I would like you to look carefully at the delicate measures of the numbers I will give you in the tables below and to realize how high your value has been lifted.

The weights and percentages of inorganic elements in a 70 kg human body:

Oxygen........ 44 kg....... 63%
Carbon....... 14 kg....... 20%
Hydrogen....... 7 kg....... 10%
Nitrogen....... 2.1 kg....... 3%
Calcium....... 1 kg....... 1.5%
Phosphorus....... 700 g....... 1%
Potassium....... 170 g....... 0.25%
Sulfur..... 140 g....... 0,2%
Chlorine....... 70 g....... 0.1%
Sodium..... 70 g....... 0.1%
Magnesium.. 30 g....... 0.04%
Iron...... 3 g....... 0.004%
Copper...... 300 mg....... 0.0005%
Manganese..... 100 mg....... 0.0002%
Iodine....... 30 mg....... 0.00004%

The total percentage of trace elements found in the blood serum and in enzymes, such as zinc, cobalt, cadmium, molybdenum, nickel, lead, fluorine, selenium, mercury, and aluminum, is 0.80526%.

As you can see, 76% of you (53.1 kg of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen) are gases that dissolve into the air. These aren't worth anything because there are plenty of them in the air. From 14 cents per kilogram, 14 kilograms of carbon (coal) is worth around 2 dollars. One kilogram calcium (lime) is worth around 12 cents. 140 grams of chlorine and sodium together (salt) is worth around 3 cents. All of the other elements (such as iron, copper, and magnesium) are worth a handful of soil, because they are found easily in soil, and there is only very little of them in the human body. So in total, your elements are worth $2.15.

Let's increase your value a little bit! Our Lord didn't leave you as elements; He turned you into organic material with very large molecules, such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, and vitamins. That gives us the table below:
Organ.... Water (%) …. Fat (%)...... Protein (%).... Ash (%)
Skin...... 64.68...... 13.00...... 22.10...... 0.68
Skeleton...... 31.81...... 17.18...... 18.93...... 28.91
Teeth...... 5.00...... 0.00...... 23.00...... 70.90
Skeletal muscle...... 79.52...... 3.35...... 16.50...... 0.93
Brain-Spinal cord...... 73.33...... 12.68...... 12.06...... 1.37
Liver...... 71.46...... 10.35...... 16.19...... 0.88
Heart...... 73.69...... 9.26...... 15.88...... 0.80
Lungs...... 83.74...... 1.54...... 13.38...... 0.95
Spleen...... 78.69...... 1.19...... 17.81...... 1.13
Kidneys...... 79.47...... 4.01...... 14.69...... 0.96
Pancreas...... 73.08...... 13.08...... 12.69...... 0.93
Intestines...... 79.07...... 6.24...... 13.19...... 0.86
Adipose tissue...... 50.09….. 42.44...... 7.06...... 0.51
Other tissues...... 70.40...... 12.39...... 16.06...... 1.01
Blood and lymph...... 93.33...... 0.17...... 5.68...... 0.94
Total...... 67.85...... 12.51...... 14.39...... 4.84

If you wonder about your value as water, protein, fat, and ash, you can calculate it according to a 70 kg person. If you do this, you can see that you are made up of 47.495 kilograms of water, 8.757 kg fat, 10.073 kg protein and 3.388 kg ash (mineral salts). Since the water in you is dirty and not clear, it isn't worth anything. Your minerals and ash aren't worth anything because there are plenty of them in soil. For $1.42 per kilogram, your fat is worth around $12.86. Your protein is worth around 16 kilograms of lamb, which costs around $36.57. So when you are elevated from elemental material to organic material, your value rises up to around $50.

Of course, our Lord didn't leave you like this. He created you in the form of organs and tissues, which carry out miraculous tasks so that you can stay alive. Now, let's see the groups of trillions of differentiated cells:

Total number of cells in the human body............ around 100 trillion
Number of cells that die in one second............around 50 million
Number of cells created in one second............around 50 million
Number of cell types............more than 200
Number of red blood cells in 5 liters of blood............25 trillion
Height reached by putting all of our red blood cells on top of each other............around 60.000 km
Length reached by putting all of our red blood cells side by side............192.500 km
Red blood cells' surface area...........more than 1000 m2
Number of white blood cells (leucocytes) in our blood............40 billion
Number of nerve cells............30 billion
Length of a sperm............35 micrometers
Diameter of an egg cell............100-120 micrometers
Average length of a liver cell............30-50 micrometers
Lifespan of small intestine mucous cells............1.4 days
Lifespan of stomach entrance area (cardia) mucous cells............9.1 days
Lifespan of stomach exit area (pylorus) mucous cells............1.8 days
Lifespan of epithelial cells in lung alveoli............8.1 days
Lifespan of large intestine (colon) mucous cells............10 days
Lifespan of upper skin (epidermis) cells............19.2 days
Lifespan of covering epithelial cells in the bladder............66.5 days
Lifespan of neutrophile leucocytes............45 days
Lifespan of eosinophile leucocytes............10 days
Lifespan of lymphocytes............5 days to 1 year
Lifespan of monocytes............months
Lifespan of red blood cells............120 days
Number of times a red blood cell travels the body during its life............300.000
Number of red blood cells generated in a second............2.4 million
Number of red blood cells generated in a day............208 billion
Lifespan of a liver cell............222 days
Lifespan of a kidney cell............286 days
Number of mitochondria (power plant) in a nerve cell............up to 10.000
Number of ribosomes created in a liver cell in one second............180
Total length of the DNA in one cell............2 m
Number of muscles in the body............around 600
Number of muscles that work when smiling............15
Number of muscles that work when frowning............43
Total amount of work done by our muscles in one day
(Equal to lifting a 6 ton truck 50 meters into the air with a crane)............around 3.106 Newtons
Total number of capillaries............30 billion
Number of alveoli in the lungs............400 million
Total amount of air taken in by the lungs in one day…………...around 10.000 liters
Total amount of air we use in 75 years............around 285 million liters
Total length of the nephrons in the kidney............around 50 km
Total length of the glomerulus capillaries in the kidney............around 25 km
Total inner surface area of the kidney channels............20 m2
Total filtration area of the Bowman capsules in the kidney............1 m2
Total skin weight............11.15 kg
Total surface area of the skin............1.5-1.8 m2
Total length of capillaries in 1 cm2 of skin............around 1 m
Weight of dead keratin cells that fall off the skin in one day............10 gr
Length of the nerve fibers in the skin............80 km
Number of sweat glands............around 2 million
Number of sebaceous glands in the skin on the head............around 120.000
Total number of cells in the skin............around 100 billion
Number of sensory receptors in the skin............around 60 million
Daily sweat amount............800 ml
Maximum daily sweat amount............18 liters
Number of cells in the retina............127 million
Number of values of the same color our eye can distinguish............around 200
Number of shades of light that we can perceive............around 500

The reason I gave all these numbers was not just to show the multitude of cells, organs, and tissues, but to emphasize that our Lord can create these with the precision that He creates a single cell. Mammals also have the organs and tissues that I have mentioned. Besides, some mammals have different organs with superior aspects. From this point of view, we are not much different from a cow or a horse. However, our Lord says that He created us in the best form possible, equipped us with superior qualities, and granted us the authority over all creation. Dear Peter! It's time that you shed out of being an animal and rise to the degree of humanity. You cannot do this with your cells, organs, or tissues, but by gaining knowledge of divinity via spiritual virtues (such as the mind, conscience, and free will) that our Lord gave you.

If we see our body as a palace, could the stones, glass, porcelain, and wood come together and say, "Come on let's make a palace, which will be the greatest palace in the world." Could elements first turn into organic matter with macromolecules, then into cell organelles, then into cells, and finally into cells with different special duties, all on their own?

Finally, I believe it will be useful to give a table that shows every organ's share in your body. My advice is not to evaluate anything materially. You cannot live without your pancreas, which only takes up a very small part of your body. Your heart, which is only 0.7% of your body, pumps the water of life (blood) to all of your organs; and your brain, which is 3.5%, manages your whole body. You can never give up on your kidneys, which take up only 0.5%.

Percentages of organ weights to the total body weight
Skeletal muscle (red meat)............31.56 %
Skeleton and teeth............14.90 %
Adipose tissue............13.63 %
Skin............7.81 %
Blood and lymph............3.77 %
Lungs............4.15 %
Brain and spinal cord............3.52 %
Liver............3.41 %
Intestines and stomach............2.07 %
Kidneys............0.51 %
Heart............0.69 %
Spleen............0.19 %
Pancreas............0.16 %
Cartilage, ligaments, blood vessels and peripheral nerves............13.63 %

All in all, we can say that the human body has holistic perfection with its functional parts, from hair to nail, to intestines and kidneys, as well as its aesthetic beauty.

Dear Peter! We have talked with you for a long time. I hope it was useful. I did everything I could. I am sorry that I couldn't portray your true value!


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