How much does a human brain weigh ? Does the mass of gray matter affect the intellectual level? How different is the brain weight of a child and an adult? Does it decrease in size during aging? There are a lot of questions ...
So how much does a human mental center weigh?
So, in order. How much does an average human brain weigh? According to scientific studies, the weight of an organ of the central nervous system, consisting of a large number of nerve cells, is from 1.1 to 2.0 kg (otherwise, 2% of the total body weight).
For males, the mass of gray matter is approximately 100-130 grams more than for the female half.
Intelligence is proportional to weight?
How much does an adult brain weigh? For men, the average figure is 1424 grams. The record weight was recorded by I. S. Turgenev - 2012. For comparison: the brain weight of Ludwig van Beethoven was 1750, V. I. Lenin - 1340, Sergey Yesenin - 1920, D. I. Mendeleev - 1571. These indicators disprove the theory that the weight index of gray matter affects the level of intelligence. The brain of a genius can be revealed an order of magnitude smaller than the brain of a person deprived of broad mental abilities. It has been scientifically proven: certain parts of a given organ of the nervous system affect the level of intelligence, in which the frequency of the location of neurons and the quantitative connections between them play a key role. As a vivid example: the largest brain weighing 2850 grams belonged to a demented person.
How much does the modern human brain weigh? The human brain, which occupies almost the entire cavity of the cerebral part of the skull and takes its shape during growth and development, is evolving: in the 19th century, its average weight in men was 1372 grams, which is significantly less than modern values. For the fair sex, the largest indicator is the weight of 1565 grams, the smallest - 1096 grams (was recorded in a 31-year-old lady). It was a woman, or rather 10-year-old girl Marilyn Vos Savant - a resident of Missouri (USA) who managed in 1956 to pass the most difficult test with a result of 228, which was a kind of pass to the Mega Society, uniting people with the highest IQ scores.
Is brain weight proportional to age?
The mass of gray matter also depends on the age of the person. In a newborn child, this figure averages 455 grams. How much does an adult human brain weigh? The human brain is not a constant.
From the moment of birth to the age of 27, gray matter “grows”, and then begins to decrease. Every 10 years, its weight is reduced by 30 grams. By the way, by age, the speed of signals of the nervous system is also reduced. From an average of 288 km / h, it is reduced by 15%.
The effectiveness of the use of the brain in mental activity
How much the human brain weighs is seemingly understandable. The question arises: is this substance used to the maximum? There is an opinion that in life a person uses only 10% of his brain. Is it so? This opinion is ambiguous, but most scientists tend to conclude that the brain uses its full potential in the work . To complete even the simplest task, gray matter is activated in all its departments.
As soon as a person begins to think intensely, the amount of energy entering the body reaches 25%, while at rest, gray matter requires no more than 9% of energy. Activated brain activity requires additional oxygen supply, which forces the brain to take almost a third of it out of the body.
Keep your brain fit
Regular sports activities that help increase capillaries help keep your brain fit. And this in turn ensures maximum intake of oxygen and glucose. The most effective exercises are those whose duration is at least 30 minutes per day.
The most effective method of brain development is considered to be a new, until this moment unfamiliar activity, as well as communication with people who are superior in intelligence to the interlocutor. The more educated a person is, the less likely it is for brain diseases to occur, because mental activity determines the production of additional tissue to replace the diseased.
A little bit about the brain of other living organisms
How much the human brain weighs has become clear from the above. And what is his weight, for example, an elephant?
Compared to the human, the brain of the largest mammals on the planet is 2 times larger and weighs from 4 to 5 kg. This once again confirms the theory that the level of intelligence and the weight of gray matter are in different planes.
The largest animal belonging to the class of mammals is the blue whale. Its average weight is 150 tons and its length is 30 meters. The weight of the brain is 9 kg with its ratio to body weight: 1 to 40,000.
But in the long-extinct dinosaurs, reaching 9-meter height, the brain was the size of a walnut and weighed only 70 grams.