Decompose

[poolger]

Not to sound too macabre but how long does a body take to start to decompose? And how long until it fully does. Watching the Bill last night got me thinking.

[RATTER15]

Well that depends on many factors, temperature, humidity, weather, buried not buried, in water not in water, size of body, age of body etc etc.

If you fill me in with all those details, I still wont know the answer!!

[sako 243]

in the heat of summer decomposition starts very rapidly.in the space of a week maggots can reduce a body or carcass to skin/fur and bones.on the other side,cold frosty weather can preserve the body for a very long time as it is a more natural wasting away than having insects ect eating away at it

[poolger]

How long would it take if the body was in a coffin and also for how much longer does the embalming process prolong it for.

[zimzam]

Poolger, why don't you read up on pathology as one question can be considered naive but two are a bit too much. A lot of people know what happens and they have lost loved ones so do you personally think foir one moment that they will want to read in depth explanations and answers on a family AB site? To ask one question out of interest is healthy but to ask an in depth question is very unhealthy and not suited to a family AB forum or for any of the members here to read or be expected to reply to. So try a google search if you really want to know all the horrid details.