Does a dead body...?

Question

float in water or sink...? I'm 90% sure I know the answer I just want confirmation...

I just wanna know an... errrrr.... school project... *looks shiftily* lol

I'm doing a case study for my uni coursework. We have to come up with possibilities for the case of a 10yr old boy found dead under a river pier...

And I assure you I don't intend to test this to find out... lol

Answer 1

A newly dead human being, or any other animal, will sink when placed in water.
After the gases of decomposition build up in the chest and abdomen, however, the body will inflate, rise like a hydrogen-filled balloon, and pop to the surface, sometimes dragging with it surprisingly heavy weights that a murderer might have thought sufficient to keep it down.
With the passage of time and further decomposition, however, the body cavities eventually rupture, the gas escapes, and the corpse goes down again, this time for good.

There is one notable exception: sometimes, due to air caught in the clothing, a body will stay on the surface for several hours before sinking.


:~}

A little morbid perhaps but, 'different strokes' and all that!

Answer 2

OK.... umm.. how some people have commented on people found floating in swimming pools and the like that they've seen on TV... it's TV! and they're probably floating because they've reached that stage of decomposing that enables the dead body to float.

As for the weighing down of people to 'murder' them etc by drown age, well, if they didn't have weights to their feet they'd be able to swim away! The whole point of the weighing down is so they can't bob up again:P

Also, remember that if i body is floating and the person has only just died it's quite likely that there is gas withing their body which is keeping them afloat. Eg lungs as an obvious one.

However because the human body is soo much water and all that, it really would depend on the whole density issue. Which brings us back to the fat and muscle part.

Answer 3

In water the body will initially sink for 8 - 10 hours,
Then as decomposition continues the body will rise to the surface until the body splits enough for the gasses to escape,then it will again sink, until the body has decomposed totally leaving only bones - which don't float.

Chucking your wife overboard will not do you any good, try a divorce!

Why do you need to know this anyhow??

Answer 4

Float

Answer 5

No need for me to answer this since others have. An interesting observation though (discussed in Tom Sawyer I think) is that women float face up whereas me float face down. To do with the distribution of body fat.

Answer 6

If this is about a hooker that you went a little to far with you should just turn yourself in weve all seen enough csi to know where trying to cover it up will lead my buddy tried cutting her arms and legs off and ventillating the body with lots of nine mill holes but decomp gases build at the cellular level causing boyancy he's up for parole next month but doesn't want to leave his boyfriend behind so just admit what you did and save yourself the trouble

Answer 7

it floats...well thats what it always does on tv programs when they find dead bodies in swimming pools or lakes and stuff cuz they always upside down floating. Think of it like a fish thats how to remember it. They always float to the top and go belly up.

Answer 8

It will float , as it start decomposing the body fills with gasses. The only time it will be under the water is when the person was weighed down. Urrghhh strang question:))))

Answer 9

Depends. If it is just thrown down without anything it will definitely sink. However, if it is kept in a bag, methane would be given off, causing the bag to float. Just don't kill anyone to find out!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 10

Depends on whether the body belonged to a fat pig or a slim and athletic person. Fat floats, muscle doesn't.

However, once putrifaction sets in, the gasses produced will cause it to float, whether it did earlier or not .