Physics: Medicine: Neurology:

A New Physics Approach for Understanding

the Mechanism of the Human Brain

by Prof. Dr. Samir A Hamouda and Nour Alhouda M Alwerfalli

Department of Physics, University of Benghazi, Libya

Benghazi, Libya

Abstract:

This paper proposed a new approach for studying the function of the brain in the frame of the physics laws. In this paper, the concentration of elements in the body and their sources are introduced and discussed. The concentration of trace elements, Br, Fe, K, Rb, Na, Se, Zn, H, O, and C in the brain are listed. Data analysis of these trace elements are presented and discussed. This study suggests that future human brain researches should take into account the effect of the Cosmic Rays, Schumann Resonances Frequencies and the Earth’s Magnetic Field.

Keywords: Trace Elements, Human Brain, Cosmic Rays, Schumann Resonances, Earth’s Magnetic Field, Magnetism.

1. Introduction

The study of human brain structure, its components and the way it works in the medical community is of great interest in advanced research centers at the global level [1-3]. The importance of this subject lies in the fundamental questions posed by science, namely how the human brain works, which includes awareness, imagination, memory, Computational processes and diseases that are generated by brain dysfunction. Of course, there are no answers to these questions because the brain has a complex system.

Some studies have been directed towards the concept of nutrition and how the lack of certain nutrients in the brain may lead to some pathological features without explaining how these elements exist in the brain and how they are related to the nervous system [4-13]. Other studies have been directed towards determining the trace elements in the brain without explaining the mechanism functions of these trace elements in the brain [14-17].

This paper explores the cosmic effects on the human brain in frame of the physics laws, in the hope of knowing the physical properties that control the functioning of the brain.

2. Materials and Methods:

2.1 Elemental Concentration in the Human Body:

The total atomic composition in a human body weighing about 70-kg is estimated to be   7x10²⁷ atoms. However, H, O, and C comprise 94.6% of its total atoms. On the other hand, H and O amount to 75% for the human body and the brain compositions. Detailed of elemental concentration in the human body is shown in table 1.

Table 1: Estimated number of atoms in the human body [18].

Z	# of atoms	Z	# of atoms	Z	# of atoms
H	4.22 x 10^27	Rb	2.2 x 10^21	Zr	2 x 10^19
O	1.61 x 10^27	Sr	2.2 x 10^21	Co	2 x 10^19
C	8.03 x 10^26	Br	2 x 10^21	Cs	7 x 10^18
N	3.9 x 10^25	Al	1 x 10^21	Hg	6 x 10^18
Ca	1.6 x 10^25	Cu	7 x 10^20	As	6 x 10^18
P	9.6 x 10^24	Pb	3 x 10^20	Cr	6 x 10^18
S	2.6 x 10^24	Cd	3 x 10^20	Mo	3 x 10^18
Na	2.5 x 10^24	B	2 x 10^20	Se	3 x 10^18
K	2.2 x 10^24	Mn	1 x 10^20	Be	3 x 10^18
Cl	1.6 x 10^24	Ni	1 x 10^20	V	8 x 10^17
Mg	4.7 x 10^23	Li	1 x 10^20	U	2 x 10^17
Si	3.9 x 10^23	Ba	8 x 10^19	Ra	8 x 10^10
F	8.3 x 10^22	I	5 x 10^19
Fe	4.5 x 10^22	Sn	4 x 10^19
Zn	2.1 x 10^22	Au	2 x 10^19

2.2 Sources of the Elemental Composition in the Human Body:

As shown in figure 1. that the most common element in the Universe is hydrogen. Hydrogen was produced by the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. The rest of those atoms were formed by dying low mass stars, exploding massive, merging neutron stars, and exploding white dwarfs billions of years after the formation of the Universe, in addition to a small fraction attributed to cosmic rays.  It can be concluded that all elements in human body shown in table 1, were made in the interiors of collapsing stars and events outside the solar system. Figure1. shows the periodic table for all the elements according to their origin [19].

Figure 1: Elements and their sources.

2.3 Elemental Concentration in the Brain

Trace elemental concentrations measurements in 31 human brain samples were carried out by [20] using neutron activation analysis. These brain samples were selected for people with ages range, 51-95 years of both genders. Brains were removed during autopsy within 4–20 h after death. Brain samples were dissected from the regions of hippocampus, frontal, temporal, occipital, parietal, and cerebellum [20]. Figure2 shows the selected brain samples. Table 2, shows the results of brain analysis.

(a)                                                                 (b)

Figure 2: (a) frontal, temporal, occipital, parietal, and cerebellum. (b) The hippocampus.

3. Results

Table 2. Mean element concentrations in different regions of normal human brains. Results are given on dry basis in mg kg^-1 [20].

4. Discussion and Conclusion

From data analysis, it can be seen from table2, that the total elemental mass in the brain is 1.192 Kg. Since the mass of the brain amounts from 1300-1400 grams, assuming the mass of the brain 1.4Kg and subtracting it from 1.192 Kg, leaves a mass difference of 0.21 Kg. This value must include H, C, and O concentration in the brain. Since the concentration of (H 60%, O 23%, C 11.4%) with respect to the human body (see table1), the same percentage can be used for the concentration of H, O, and C in the brain. Table3 shows the mass element and the number of atoms in the brain including H, O, and C elements.

Table 3: Calculated elemental mass and number of atoms in the Human brain

Element	Mass of element in the brain (kg)	# of atoms in the brain
Br	2.866x10^-6	2.16x10^19
Fe	2.31x10^-4	2.5x10^21
K	0.012	1.99x10^23
Na	7.06x10^-3	1.85x10^23
Rb	2.12x10^-5	1.5x10^20
Se	1.17x10^-7	8.98x10^17
Zn	5.6x10^-5	5.6x10^20
H	0.126	7.58x10^25
O	0.048	1.80x10^24
C	0.023	5.01x10^22

The vibrational frequencies (ʋ) of elements or molecules can be calculated from the equation:

ʋ =                                              (1)

Where k is the force constant and m is the mass or the reduced mass. Therefore, Schumann resonances frequencies (7.83, 14, 21, 26, 33, 39 Hz) can be applied in equation1, to determine the force constant and other parts of the brain which respond to such frequencies. Schumann resonances frequencies have been applied in a variety of research disciplines such as the developmental biological processes and the most favorable functioning of the human brain waves. The source of Schumann resonances frequencies are the cosmic rays. Cosmic rays generate lightning in the ionosphere. These lighting activities produce electromagnetic waves that make the earth resonate with specified frequencies, called Schumann resonances frequencies [21- 26].

For the whole of the Human brain with mass 1.4Kg using the main Schumann resonances frequency (7.83 Hz), the calculated force constant is 611.76 N/m. This force constant can be used to determine the other parts of the brain which respond to other Schumann resonances frequencies. Table4 shows the elemental masses in the brain which respond to Schumann resonance frequencies and the estimated elements (see table3).

                    Table 4: The estimated elements in the brain which respond to Schumann resonance frequencies.

Schumann resonances frequency	Mass                           (Kg)	Estimated                         element
14 Hz	0.079	H
21Hz	0.035	O
26Hz	0.023	C
33Hz	0.014	K
39Hz	0.011	Na

Appropriate combinations of these trace elements in the brain are shown in table5.  It can be seen that such combinations consist of nonpolar covalent, polar covalent and ionic bonds due to difference in their electronegativity, but most of bonds are ionic. The vibrational frequency for these bonds was calculated, applying equation1 and assuming single bonds (see table5). Results of calculation show that the vibrational frequencies of these bonds lie in the far infrared band of the visible light. The source of the infrared bands are the solar system (the Sun) and cosmic ray (outer the solar system). Infrared bands are responsible for cell growth and metabolic process in the brain and body. 

Table 5: Calculated vibrational frequencies of trace element bond combinations

Z	ʋ (Hz) x10^13	Z	ʋ (Hz) x10^13	Z	ʋ(Hz) x10^13	Z	ʋ(Hz) x10^13
H-C	11.6	H-O	8.98	Zn-Rb	1.43	Fe-O	2.48
H-K	9.10	Br–Br	1.38	Fe-C	2.70	Fe-Se	1.52
H-Rb	8.76	Se-Se	1.39	Fe-K	1.82	H-Na	8.90
H-H	12.3	H–Se	8.79	K-O	2.59	Fe-H	8.81
Br-Na	2.06	Se-O	2.40	C–Br	2.79	Se-K	1.70
Br-Rb	1.36	Se-C	2.70	Br–H	1.79	Se-Br	1.38
Fe-Rb	1.50	Rb-Na	2.63	K-C	2.88	Se-Na	2.07
Rb-Rb	1.33	Fe-Na	2.16	Br-K	1.70	Rb-C	2.69
Na-Na	2.50	Na-Rb	2.05	Zn-Na	2.12	Rb-K	1.68
Zn-C	2.70	Zn-O	2.43	Rb-O	2.38	Na-O	2.85
Zn-K	1.76	Zn-Se	1.46	Na-C	3.11	Zn-H	8.81
K-K	9.97	Na-K	2.29

4.1 The Magnetism of the brain:

It is of great interest to explore the magnetic property of the elemental compositions of the brain. More specifically, the effect of the magnetic fields on the Human brain. This allows to gain more knowledge about the mechanism by which the brain works. Since the human brain contains an appreciable number of trace atoms (see table3), it is worth studying the effect of the earth’s magnetic field on such atoms. These atoms have paramagnetic, ferromagnetic, and diamagnetic types. The earth’s magnetic field is about 5x10^-5 T [27-28]. In order for the earth’s magnetic field to have interactions with these atoms, it is required that large number of atoms should be available; more than 10⁶ atoms for each element and the magnetic interaction energy should exceed the thermal energy, kT. [29]. For ferromagnetic atoms like Fe with n unpaired electrons, the effective magnetic moment is given as [29]:

                                      µ_eff =  µ_B                                         (2)

Where µ_B is Bohr magneton. For a number N of ferromagnetic atoms, the collective magnetic moment m is given as:

m = N. µ_eff                                              (3)

The interaction energy E of that moment with the earth's magnetic field (B_earth) is given as:

                                                   E = m B_earth                                              (4)

The degree of magnetic moment alignment is the ratio   .

For Paramagnetic and diamagnetic atoms the magnetic moment is given as [29],

m = ξ B_earth                                            (5)

Where ξ is the magnetizability is given as,

                                                               ξ =                                             (6)

Where χ is the magnetic susceptibility, and ρ_x for each element x with y number of atoms is given as,

                                                        ρ_x =                                                 (7)

Results of calculations are shown in table6. As can be seen from table6, the ratio of interaction energy of elements magnetic moment with the earth's magnetic field is greatly exceeds the elemental thermal energy at room temperature. This implies that the magnetic moment alignments for all trace elements are the dominant process at room temperature. This also suggests that the earth's magnetic field may play a central role for the functions of the brain related to awareness, imagination, memory, Computational processes and diseases that are generated by brain dysfunction

Table 6: Shows the trace elements magnetic type and their ratios 

Trace element Z	Magnetic Type	Mass Magnetic Susceptibility m3/Kg	Ratio
Br	Diamagnetic	-4.9×10^-9	10^9
Fe	Ferromagnetic	-	10^15
K	Paramagnetic	6.7×10^-9	10^13
Na	Paramagnetic	8.8×10^-9	10^9
Rb	Paramagnetic	2.6×10^-9	10^5
Se	Diamagnetic	-4×10^-9	10^3
Zn	Diamagnetic	-2.21×10^-9	10^6
H	Diamagnetic	-2.48×10^-8	10^12
O	Paramagnetic	1.335×10^-6	10^12
C	Diamagnetic	-6.2×10^-9	10^8

5. Conclusion:

Although the significance of physics in this study is still limitedly used in biophysics and medical fields, more researches are necessary to explore the links between the environment of the outer space and the function of the Human brain. These focus physics researches may provide a relevant knowledge about how the Human brain works and are candidate for new therapy strategies in biotechnology, medical fields and a new industry.

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[30] S. A. Hamouda. et. al. (2017), “MAGNETIC BACTERIA AND THEIR POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS: A REVIEW ARTICLE”, Vestnik Mordovskogo universiteta, Mordovia University Bulletin; 1(27):108-122

Author contact: Email: dr_s_hamouda@yahoo.ie

Co-author:  Nour Alhouda M Alwerfalli.,

Senior student at Department of Physics, University of Benghazi, Libya

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