Weighing your own head.

[jamesy boy]

Simple, really. What's the best way to weigh your own head?

[emeritus]

why would you want to ? Really curious

[sddsddean]

Displacement is probably easiest. Get a full bucket of water and weigh it. Stick your head in (advise you hold your breath!!). Let the water 'overflow' then take your head out. Weigh bucket again. The difference is the weight of your head.

[ll_billym]

Thats not actually true sddsdean, a balloon would displace roughly the same amount of water but weighs significantly less than a head.

I don't think you can accurately do it as you would need to detach it completely from the body to do so.

[Goodsoulette]

if you had two tables with a a small gap and scales on one and lay your head on the scales would that work.?

[sddsddean]

Hmmm, thinking about it billy, you're right. You would have to detach your head and let it 'float'.

[dot.hawkes]

surely you just loe down and rest yout dead on a set of scales, and relax, why would that not be an accurate weight for your head?

[wildwood]

With the sinus cavities, water displacement is nowhere near accurate. The only way is decapitation.

As a guide, the average human head weights 10 to 12 pounds, although politicians are renowned for greatly exceeding this standard.

[hairygrape]

Sorry wildwood, but politicians have a massive gap between their ears which means their heads' weigh LESS than the rest of us.

[jno]

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Weigh_20your_20 own_20head

[dot.hawkes]

ok, I've just been upstairs laid down on the bathroom floor put the bathroom scales under my head, held the bathroom mirror above my head and looked at the weight in the reflection, it weighed 10 lbs

[jno]

mmm, but say you blew your nose first, dot, that might lighten it up a bit. Also remove all mascara and lippy

[dot.hawkes]

lol @ jno, no I had already taken my slap off lol

[Trevilino]

You could make a plaster cast of your head and then fill the cast with a liquid of the same specific gravity as your head and then multiply the volume taken by the SG. All you need now is to find out the Specific Gravity of your head.

[kwicky]

Go to the butchers and purchase a cows head of similar size then weigh it

[Trevilino]

Further to my answer, you could find the SG of a human head by visiting your local mortuary and slipping the attendant a tenner to take away a decapitated human head. Then using Archimedes displacement theory (As per sddsddean's method above) the weight of the head divided by the volume of water displaced will be the Specific Gravity of a human head. Use this figure in calculating your own head weight by multiplying by the volume of liquid needed to fill the plaster cast.

[beerbelly]

Chop someone else's head off and weigh that .
As long as they are about the same size as you it should be OK !

[dundurn]

Any chance of any more headway?

[Trevilino]

Alternative way would be to weigh yourself prior to decapitation and then weigh yourself again afterwards (minus head). Subtract one from the other and the difference will be the weight of your head.