when a person gets cremated do the bones burn to ashes as well?

Question

i heard they dont. if thats the case then what happens to them?

Answer 1

They burn, but sometimes not all the way. There will be pieces left in with the ashes. These are collected and ground up to be small. You will be left with ashes and small pieces of bone.

Answer 2

When someone is cremated there are placed in a wood box. Since a persons body as about 95% water based, the ashes which remain would be very little without the mix of the wood box. Most bones are burned to ashes but a few are not. The bigger the bones the less likely they will burn, such as the bones in your leg and your skull. The unburned bones are discarded and you will receive an urn of ashes which are mostly wood ashes. Sorry to drop this bomb shell on you. I know this because a man I went to high school with does this for a living. When he said the larger unburned bones were discarded I didn't ask how. There are somethings in life I do not want to know.

Answer 3

Regrettably, they do not! The temperature needed to burn and disintergrate bone is massive. Bone tends to "pop" and crack open from the small cavities and hollows that expand from pressurized steam trapped in them. They then char or scorch but do not break down to powder or ashes. This is an old dilemma and so much so that the mortuary industry specifically has equipment to break up or grind the remaining solid matter into semi-powder form. Google "mortuary equipment" and check it out. The real issue is, does a 200 lb person's total mass break down to 2 liters of dust? I have the feeling only a portion of the deceased is returned!

Answer 4

The small bones burn, but there can be large pieces left. The ashes and pieces get put into an industrial grade ...well...food processor/blender type of a machine. This pulverizes any remaining pieces so the final result is a fine dusty ash. I toured a crematory/funeral home once. It was fascinating.

Answer 5

My niece was cremated and when her ashes came back their where big pieces of bone in her box her father poured then on her mothers grave. It looked so bad that we had to pay someone to bring in dirt to cover them. I am not sure who cremated her but the did a pour job.

Answer 6

Some of the larger bone fragments such as hips, shoulders and larger bone may not be completely reduced to ash, therefore they are put into a pulverizer and ground to a uniform consisitency. You definitely receive every portion of the person, the larger fragments are NOT discarded, as someone answered, they are pulverized and added to the rest of the cremains.

Answer 7

Not all bone gets turned to ash but most does. They will crush any larger pieces. The ashes will always have some bone chips & splinters in them.

Answer 8

Well, I can state for sure that they are not always pulverized or what ever the term. I received my husbands ashes, and there were many large, some palm size pieces of bone. I was very shocked.

Answer 9

The bones might break up but there will still be big chunks left after burning. These are put into a rotating drum with big metal balls and this crunches up the bones. When the bits are small enough they fall out of the drum.

Answer 10

The bone is what turns to ash....the skin and tissue just melts.....there will be bone fragment that does not burn completely. It will be in the urn with the rest of the ash...