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Livescience.com

Vampires a Mathematical Impossibility, Scientist Says

Thursday 5 March 2009, by Webmaster

A researcher has come up with some simple math that sucks the life out of the vampire myth, proving that these highly popular creatures can’t exist.

University of Central Florida physics professor Costas Efthimiou’s work debunks pseudoscientific ideas, such as vampires and zombies, in an attempt to enhance public literacy. Not only does the public believe in such topics, but the percentages are at dangerously high level, Efthimiou told LiveScience.

Legend has it that vampires feed on human blood and once bitten a person turns into a vampire and starts feasting on the blood of others.

Efthimiou’s debunking logic: On Jan 1, 1600, the human population was 536,870,911. If the first vampire came into existence that day and bit one person a month, there would have been two vampires by Feb. 1, 1600. A month later there would have been four, and so on. In just two-and-a-half years the original human population would all have become vampires with nobody left to feed on.

If mortality rates were taken into consideration, the population would disappear much faster. Even an unrealistically high reproduction rate couldn’t counteract this effect.

"In the long run, humans cannot survive under these conditions, even if our population were doubling each month," Efthimiou said. "And doubling is clearly way beyond the human capacity of reproduction."

So whatever you think you see prowling around on Oct. 31, it most certainly won’t turn you into a vampire.


1 Message

  • True...But vampires didnt always turn their victims into a vampire with every bite ..some were just to feed..And you gotta think the body holds 5 litres of blood keeping them going for some time...Live stock and Animals were also a good form of blood source....in buffy duing classs sessions the teacher talked alot about plagues..the black death etc..making it out to be rats spreading of disease or a form of early germ war fares. (killing off the indians with a blanket infected with small pox.).when really hiding in the shadows was really vampires picking off the people in huge numbers..they didnt survive hundreds of years with out a plan..i dont believe in vampires my self...But some things cant be all maths and logic...takes the fun out of watching a good vamp movie now doesnt it....

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