The Future Fate of Humanity: Cremating One Quadrillion Dead Bodies? (Part 2)

 

Remember in Part 1 of this essay, we were talking about over population and the survival of mankind requiring space to live. We have not even mentioned where we  are going to get the space to bury all the increasing numbers of dead people over generations after generations. The only  way is to reduce all the dead bodies into ashes through cremation.

Even then we have another problem. How much heat would be needed to cremate just a single  body, let alone the scale of 1 quadrillion  (10 ¹⁵)  people, and where on Earth are we going to get all that fuel and energy just for cremation alone?

 Follow me into this very interesting calculation to find out.

I think all of us know that a body is ‘wet’ containing blood, lymph, cellular and other fluids drunk. We also know that nothing can burn when wet. We need to remove all the water in the body first before the dried-up body can finally be burnt into ashes.

First, we need to bring all the water or fluid content in the  body to boiling point at 100 ⁰ C. This is called the specific heat

Once the water content in the body is brought to boiling point, it needs to be vaporized into steam. This is called the latent heat of evaporation.

Finally, we need  to burn up the completely dried-up body into ashes.

The human body is made up of 47 - 67% water, depending on age, sex, weight, and body fat percentage. 

Percentage of water in the body of human are:

Average adult man is 60%

Average adult woman is 52–55%

Infants and children are 64–84%

In an adult male weighing 65 kg (143 lbs) for example, 60 %  is made up of  water (39 kg).

 Let us use 39 kg of water as an example.

Having understood this, how much heat would be required in a cremation process? Let’s now go to find out.

The Calculations:   

Step 1:

The specific heat capacity of water is approximately 4.18 kilojoules per kg per Celsius. 

Since 1 litre of water is roughly equivalent to 1 kilogram (1000 grams), to raise the  tropical room temperature (around 25 ⁰ C) to boiling point (100 ⁰ C), the temperature required is:

Formula:

Q = mcΔT 

Where:

Q = Heat energy required (kilojoules) 

m = Mass of water (kg) 

c = Specific heat capacity of water (kilojoules / kg / C) 

ΔT = Change in temperature (C ⁰)

Therefore, for 39 litre (39 kg) of water in an average human body weighing 65 kg the amount of energy (Q) needed to raise it from 25 ⁰ C to 100 ⁰ C would be:

 = (39 kg of water) x (4.18 kilojoules / kg ) x (100 ⁰ C – 25 ⁰ C) 

Q = 12,226.5 kJ.

Step 2:

Once the water has reached its boiling point (100 degrees C) the water needs to be completely boiled off as the latent heat of evaporation. The latent heat of vaporization is the specific amount of energy needed to convert a liquid into a gas at its boiling point, and for water, it's roughly 2,260 kilojoules per kg or 540 calories per gram at atmospheric pressure. 

(Heat = mass x latent heat of vaporization)

Hence to boil off 39 kg of water  at boiling point (100 degrees C) would require

= 39 kg x 2,260 kilojoules = 8,8140 kilojoules

 Total amount of heat needed to completely boil off 39 kg of water in a human body weighing 65 kg

= 12,226.5 kilojoules + 8,8140

= 100,366.5 kilojoules

Step 3:

We haven finished yet. During  the cremation of a dead body, not only the water needed to be completely boiled off first before the rest of the dried-up body can be burned off. But how much heat does that require? Let’s do the calculation.

A  lean man's body is made up of about 62% water, 16% fat, 16% protein, 6% minerals, less than 1% carbohydrates, and very small amounts of vitamins and other elements.

The energy values are 17 kJ/g (4.0 kcal/g) for protein, 37 kJ/g (9.0 kcal/g) for fat and 17 kJ/g (4.0 kcal/g) for carbohydrates.

Since all the 39 kg water of a 65 kg human body has already been boiled off, what is left are 26 kg of dried-up body mass consisting of about 16 % of body fats, 16 % of proteins from muscles and organs, and just 1 % of carbohydrates and sugars (ignore the minerals from bones that cannot be burnt off, except reduced into ashes)

Since 16 % of 26 kg are from body fats at 37 kJ / g, the energy required to burn it off is:  

= 153,920 kJ 

16 % of 26 kg are from proteins at 17 kJ / g = 70720 kJ 

1 % of 26 kg are from carbohydrates at 17 kJ / g = 4420 kJ

Hence total amount of heat required to burn up the remaining fats, proteins and carbohydrates in a 26 kg body

= 153,920 + 70720 + 4420 = 229,060 kJ  

Step 4:

Thus, the  calculated heat required to reduce a 65 kg dead body into ashes are:

1. Heat required to bring 39 kg of water to boiling point (from 25°C to 100°C

2. Q1=12,226.5 kJ

3.Heat required to vaporize 39 kg of water Q2=88,140 kJ 

4.Heat required to burn the remaining 26 kg dried body mass

5.Q3=229,060 kJ

Total = 12,226.5  + 88,140 + 229,060

= 329,426.5 kJ (approximately 329.4 MJ).

That’s only for one dead body.

Now, let's explore the final thought on the cremation of over 1 quadrillion people due to lack of burial space on Earth.

Step 1: Understanding the Scale

1 quadrillion = 10¹⁵ people

Each human body (assuming an average of 65 kg) requires 329.4 megajoules for cremation.

So, the total energy required for 1 quadrillion people:

10 ¹⁵ people x  (329.4 x 10 ⁶ J  / person)

 = 3.294 x 10²³ Joules  

Step 2: Comparison with Global Energy Production

To put this into perspective:

• Total annual global energy consumption (2022 estimate) ≈ 6 × 10²⁰ Joules
• Total energy output from the Sun hitting Earth per second ≈ 1.74 × 10 ¹⁷ W (or J/s)

≈ 550 years’ worth of global energy consumption at today’s rates!

Alternatively, if we could somehow harness the Sun's energy directly, the required energy is:

3.294 × 10 ²³  J / 1.74 × 10¹⁷ J / s

≈ 1.9 million seconds (or about 22 days) of sunlight hitting Earth.

Step 3: Where Would This Energy Come From?

1. Fossil Fuels?

Impossible, as it would require burning over 100 times the Earth’s known reserves of coal, oil, and gas.

2. Solar Energy?

Theoretically possible! If we had a way to collect and store just 22 days’ worth of sunlight hitting Earth, that would suffice.

Space-based solar collectors or Dyson spheres could be a futuristic solution.

3. Nuclear Energy?

The total energy needed is about 10,000 times the total world’s nuclear power capacity today.

Even if nuclear fusion were perfected, it would still take decades to generate this much energy.

4. Anti-Matter?

Hypothetically, 1 kg of antimatter annihilating with 1 kg of matter releases about 1.8 × 10 ¹⁷ J.

We would need about 1.8 billion kg of antimatter - currently impossible to produce.

 My Final Thought: Humanity's Paradox

This  thought of mine highlights a serious paradox - if we ever reached such extreme overpopulation, we wouldn't just lack burial space; we wouldn't have enough energy, food, or resources to sustain life, let alone cremate the dead. The problem would need to be solved long before reaching 1 quadrillion people, likely through population control, space colonization, or radical energy breakthroughs.

Would we ever reach such a state, and how long would this take for the world population to reach one quadrillion (10 ^15). Let's calculate this out, shall we? 

Formula for Exponential Growth

The population grows exponentially according to the formula:

^{P = P}₀^{e^rt}

Where:

P is the future population

P ₀   is the initial population

r is the growth rate (as a decimal)

t  is the time in years

e  is Euler’s number (≈2.718)

Step 1: Define Known Values

• Current population (P0) = 8.2 billion = 8.2× 10 ⁹
• target population (P) = 1 quadrillion = 10 ¹⁵
• Growth rate (r) = 0.89% per year = 0.0089 (as a decimal)

Step 2: Solve for t (time in years)

Rearrange the formula using a few complicated steps (I needed to do this manually using a pen and a piece of paper as mathematical equations cannot be typed here on my smartphone) to solve for t, the calculation shows that it would take approximately 1,316 years for the world population to reach 1 quadrillion, assuming a constant annual growth rate of 0.89%.

So, we are back to the question again, where are we going to get so much energy just to cremate the increasing dead bodies as they were born

 Global Energy Production

To put this into perspective about global energy production. The total annual global energy consumption (2022 estimate) ≈ 6 × 10 ²⁰ Joules

Total energy output from the Sun hitting Earth per second

≈ 1.74  ×10 ¹⁷  W (or J / s)

Thus, the total cremation energy for 1 quadrillion people is:

3.294 × 10 ²³ J /  6 × 10 ²⁰ J

≈ 550 years’ worth of global energy consumption at today’s rates!

Alternatively, once again,  we could somehow harness the Sun's energy directly. The required energy is:

3.294 × 10 ²³ J / 1.74  x 10 ¹⁷

≈ 1.9 million seconds (or about 22 days) of sunlight hitting Earth.

 

We have already also mentioned fossil fuels that would require burning over 100 times the Earth’s known reserves of coal, oil, and gas.

We also suggested nuclear energy that would be about 10,000 times the total world’s nuclear power capacity today, and even if nuclear fusion were perfected, it would still take decades to generate this much energy.

We also suggested using anti-matter that hypothetically requires 1 kg of antimatter annihilating with 1 kg of matter to release about 1.8 × 10^17 Joules. We would need about 1.8 billion kg of antimatter that is currently impossible to produce.

Let’s analyse how much nuclear fuel would be needed to cremate 1 quadrillion people using a nuclear furnace.

The total energy required for cremation from our previous calculation is a whopping 3.294 × 10 ²³ Joules. The only way to get such vast amounts of energy output is from nuclear fuel. There are two main types of nuclear reactions: fission (used in today's nuclear power plants) and fusion (which powers the Sun and is still in experimental stages).

Using Uranium-235 (Nuclear Fission):

1 kg of Uranium-235 releases 8.2 × 10 ¹³ J through fission.

The amount of U-235 required for all the cremation would be:

3.294 ×10 ²³ Joules / 8.2 × 10 13 J / kg

= 4.02×10 ⁹ kg (4.02 billion tonnes of U-235)  

This is about 80 times the known global reserves of U-235. This is practically impossible to get unless we find new uranium deposits or use breeder reactors to generate more fissile fuel.

So now we must think of using nuclear fusion (Deuterium-Tritium Reaction) which is still in its theoretical stage. Anyway, let’s try, even if it is theoretical

1 kg of fusion fuel (Deuterium-Tritium) releases 3.6 × 10 ¹⁴ Joules of energy.

Thus, the amount of fusion fuel required is:  

3.294 × 10 ²³ J / 3.6 × 10 ¹⁴ J/ kg

=9.15×10 ⁸ kg (915 million tonnes)

Fusion fuel (deuterium) is abundant in seawater, so this method is theoretically feasible if fusion reactors become practical. What then would be the best nuclear option?

I think the most practical nuclear method today would be:

1. Developing large-scale fusion reactors using deuterium from seawater.
2. Designing massive fusion cremation plants capable of processing millions of bodies per day.
3. Using space-based fusion or solar furnaces to harness the Sun’s energy directly.

Nuclear fusion is the only feasible nuclear option, but it would require a level of technology far beyond what we have today. Until then, I suppose mass cremation on such a scale remains a science fiction scenario!

Alternatively,  if we throw the dead directly into the Sun, it will burn them instantly - but the challenge would be launching 1 quadrillion bodies into space?  Probably not. But it’s an eye-opening thought experiment to use the Sun to cremate all the 1 quadrillion dead bodies. After all, according to most astronomers, we came from stardust, and the Sun is technically a star. Then we should all return to the star from where we originated.

This is a question no one, as far as I know, has read this suggestion anywhere before,  taught this  anywhere, or even heard of this before. This is my personal suggestion  to solve this problem.  I shall write on this highly interesting  possibility, almost a fantasy in my next essay