How Much Am I Worth?

This is an article I found on line. I was first introduced to a chart that showed this information in my anatomy class. Anyways, if you are ever feeling down about yourself or life, this will just make you feel worse. Nonetheless, we can still take comfort that we are made out of stardust!

A great number of people have spent a great deal of human and
financial resources calculating the composition of, prior to the
decomposition of, and the worth, or worthlessness of, the human body.

When we total the monetary value of the elements in our bodies and the
value of the average person's skin, we arrive at a net worth of $4.50!

This value is, however, subject to change, due to stock market
fluctuations. Since the studies leading to this conclusion were
conducted by the U.S. and by Japan respectively, it might be wise to
consult the New York Stock Exchange and the Nikkei Index before
deciding when to sell!

The U.S. Bureau of Chemistry and Soils invested many a hard-earned tax
dollar in calculating the chemical and mineral composition of the
human body, which breaks down as follows:

65% Oxygen (yes, we are mostly hot air)
18% Carbon
10% Hydrogen
3% Nitrogen
1.5% Calcium
1% Phosphorous
0.35% Potassium
0.25% Sulfur
0.15% Sodium
0.15% Chlorine
0.05% Magnesium
0.0004% Iron
0.00004% Iodine

Additionally, it was discovered that our bodies contain trace
quantities of fluorine, silicon, manganese, zinc, copper, aluminum,
and arsenic. Together, all of the above amounts to less than one
dollar!

Our most valuable asset is our skin, which the Japanese invested their
time and money in measuring. The method the Imperial State Institute
for Nutrition at Tokyo developed for measuring the amount of a
person's skin is to take a naked person, and to apply a strong, thin
paper to every surface of his body. After the paper dries, they
carefully remove it, cut it into small pieces, and painstakingly total
the person's measurements. Cut and dried, the average person is the
proud owner of fourteen to eighteen square feet of skin, with the
variables in this figure being height, weight, and breast size. Basing
the skin's value on the selling price of cowhide, which is
approximately $.25 per square foot, the value of an average person's
skin is about $3.50.