The Human Brain

Dimensions and Sizes

Average dimensions of the adult brain: 

Width = 140 mm/5.5 in, Length = 167mm/6.5 in, Height = 93 mm/3.6 in.

How Much Does The Human Brain Weigh?

• At birth our brains weigh and average of 350-400g (about 4/5 lbs), as adults the brain averages 1300-1400g (about 3 lbs).
• In that minute the brain will consume 46cm3 (1/5 cups) of oxygen from that blood.
• Of that oxygen consumed, 6% will be used by the brain's white matter and 94% by the grey matter.
• The brain can stay alive for 4 to 6 minutes without oxygen. After that cells begin die.
• The slowest speed at which information travels between neurons is 416 km/h or 260 mph, thats as "slow" as todays supercar's top speed (the Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron clocked at 253 mph).
• 10 seconds is the amount of time until unconsciousness after the loss of blood supply to the brain.
• Time until reflex loss after loss of blood supply to the brain, 40-110 seconds.
• During early pregnancy the rate of neuron growth is 250,000 neurons a minute.

Other Fun Facts About The Human Brain

• Results from cognitive tests show 30% of 80-year-olds perform as well as young adults.
• Your brain is about 2% of your total body weight but uses 20% of your body's energy.
• The energy used by the brain is enough to light a 25 watt bulb.
• More electrical impulses are generated in one day by a single human brain than by all the telephones in the world.

How Much Does The Human Brain Think?

• 70,000 is the number of thoughts that it is estimated the human brain produces on an average day.
• After age 30, the brain shrinks a quarter of a percent (0.25%) in mass each year.
• Albert Einsteins brain weighed 1,230 grams (2.71 lbs), significantly less then the human average of 1,300g to 1,400g (3 lbs).
• Each year Americans consume 50 billion aspirin tablets or 15.5 million tons.
• 89.06 is the percentage of people who report normally writing with their right hand, 10.6% with their left and 0.34% with either hand.

Source: Brain Health