 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 ] Next Last |
The rate and the manner in which a human or animal body decomposes is strongly affected by a number of factors. In a roughly descending degree of importance, those factors include:
Decomposition begins at the moment of death. At this stage it is caused by two factors: autolysisIn chemistry, autolysis is the production of a substance which catalyses the reaction it was made in. In cell biology, autolysis is the destruction (or lysis) of a cell by its own enzymes., the breaking down of tissues by the body's own internal chemicals and enzymeAn enzyme is a protein, or protein complex, that catalyzes a chemical reaction. Like any catalyst, enzymes work by lowering the activation energy of a reaction, thus allowing the reaction to proceed to its steady state or completion much faster than it ots; and putrefactionPutrefaction is the decomposition of proteins, especially by anaerobic microorganisms. The result is usually amines such as putrescine and cadaverine, which have a putrid odor. For other senses, see decomposition. Putrefaction is a necessary part of human, the breakdown of tissues by bacteria. These processes release gasFor other meanings see gas (disambiguation). A gas is one of the phases of matter. Gases are, like liquids, fluids: they have the ability to flow and do not resist deformation. Unlike liquids, however, unconstrained gases do not occupy a fixed volume, butes that are the chief source of the characteristic odour of dead bodies.
Insects and other animals are typically the next agent of decomposition, assuming the body is accessible to them. The most important insects that are typically involved in the process include the fleshfliesFleshflies : Animalia : Arthropoda : Insecta : Diptera : Brachycera : Muscomorpha Sarcophagidae Subfamilies Miltogramminae Sarcophaginae Fleshflies family Sarcophagidae are insects that are often mistaken for common houseflies, although they are somewhat ( Sarcophagidae) and blowfliesBlowflies Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Diptera Suborder: Brachycera Infraorder: Muscomorpha Family Calliphoridae Subfamilies Calliphorinae Chrysomyiinae The Blowflies are members of the family Callip ( Calliphoridae). The green-bottle fly seen in the summer is a blowfly.
Other animals, including coyotes, dogs, wolves, foxes, rats, and mice may eat a body if it is accessible to them. Some of these animals will also remove and scatter bones.
Embalming affects the process, slowing it somewhat, but does not forestall it indefinitely. Embalmers typically pay the greatest attention to the parts of the body seen by mourners, such as the face and hands. The chemicals that are used in embalming will repel most insects, and slow the process of bacterial putrefaction, but will not preserve a corpse indefinitely. In sufficiently dry environments, an embalmed body may end up mummified.
The time for the reduction of an embalmed body to be reduced to a skeleton varies greatly. An unembalmed adult body buried six feet deep in ordinary soil without a coffin normally takes ten to twelve years to decompose fully to a skeleton, given a temperate climate. Immerse the body in water, and skeletonization occurs approximately four times faster; expose it to air, and it occurs eight times faster. The skeleton itself is not permanent; acids in soils can reduce it to unrecognisable components as well (this is one reason given for the lack of human remains found in the wreckage of the Titanic, even in parts of the ship considered inaccessible to scavengers). Bodies exposed to cool, damp soil may develop a waxy substance called adipocere, caused by the action of soil chemicals on the body's proteins and fats. The formation of adipocere slows decomposition by inhibiting the bacteria that cause putrefaction.
Various sciences study the decomposition of bodies. These sciences fall under the general rubric of forensics, because the usual motive for study of the decomposition of human bodies is to determine the time and cause of death, for legal purposes:
The Body Farm, located at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville has a number of bodies laid out in various situations in a fenced in plot near the medical center. Scientists at the University study how the human body decays in various circumstances to gain a better understanding into decomposition.
Peter Greenaway's film A Zed and Two Noughts [1] has a sub plot which explores decomposition and is intercut with an escalating series of time-lapse sequences watching various plants and animals decomposing.Reference: Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies by Kenneth V. Iserson , M.D.; Galen Press, Tucson AZ (1994) BooksEnthsiast.com
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|