What if your cells never died?

If the cells in your body weren't programmed to die when they reached their limit, and so that there is room for the new cells, how much would you weigh?

"Cell death is an absolute requirement, not only for life, but for developmental processes to proceed in a normal fashion.  If our cells didn't die over a lifetime, and we kept all of them, and didn't lose them, then we would weigh as much as 50 million metric tons" (Source 1)

holy crap...

how big is that, anyway?

50,000,000 metric tons = 50,000,000,000 kilograms or 50 billion kg

= 5 E10 kg or 5 x 10^10

(Source 3)

To put this in perspective, the mass of the Earth is 5.972E24 kg or 5.972 x 10^24 or 


5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg.
 (Source 2)

(Source 4)

Hmm OK that does the opposite of putting it into perspective, but at least you know your total cell mass is a lot less than the Earth!

Bibliography


1. "National Geographic: Moment of Death" TV documentary, 2008.  Viewed via Netflix.  WWW: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/National_Geographic_Moment_of_Death/70146676?trkid=4530065.

2. "Earth" Wikipedia article, 2012.  WWW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth.

3. "Torr" image, InvisionFree, 2005.  WWW: http://s8.invisionfree.com/Superdickery_Forum/ar/t988.htm.

4. "Ant Lifting Heavy Earth" image, 2012.  http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-ant-lifting-heavy-earth-concept-power-strength-image14735039.