How long does it take the human body to decay???

Question

If a body was placed In a standard casket and placed into a grave how long would it take for the body to completey decay ??? Not including Bone ...

Answer 1

I am not a mortician but I believe that the methods used these days to preserve bodies prevents significant decay for quite a while. Not only is the body embalmed, which prevents microbial decay, but the coffin is airtight and there is usually (often?) a cement crypt around the coffin. Besides the organisms that are buried with the deceased (on the body and in the coffin already) it is difficult for decomposers to get at the body. I do not have an exact figure for you though.

However,
It can takes decades, as there are many factors that affect the rate of decomposition, such as how well the person was embalmed, what type of casket and vault they are in, the surrounding climate and so on. I have seen people that have been dead for decades that look fine, and some that were completely decomposed. There are too many factors that affect the rate of decomposition to give a definitive answer to your question.

It depends on a lot of things. If the soil well drained, it is a dry climate? It is hot? It is cold?

The rate and the manner in which an animal body decomposes is strongly affected by a number of factors. In a roughly descending degree of importance, those factors include:

Temperature
The availability of oxygen
Prior embalming
Cause of death
Access by insects
Burial, and depth of burial
Access by scavengers
Trauma, including wounds and crushing blows
Humidity, or dryness
Rainfall
Body size and weight
Clothing
The surface on which the body rests
The speed with which decomposition occurs varies greatly. Factors such as temperature, humidity, and the season of death all determine how fast a fresh body will skeletonize or mummify. A basic guide for the effect of environment on decomposition is given as Casper's Law (or Ratio): when there is free access of air a body decomposes twice as fast than if immersed in water and eight times faster than if buried in earth.

The most important variable is a body's accessibility to insects, particularly flies. On the surface in tropical areas, invertebrates alone can easily reduce a fully fleshed corpse to clean bones in under two weeks. The skeleton itself is not permanent; acids in soils can reduce it to unrecognizable components; 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. Freshly skeletonized bone is often called "green" bone and has a characteristic greasy feel. Under certain conditions (normally cool, damp soil) bodies may undergo saponification and 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.

In extremely dry or cold conditions, the normal process of decomposition is halted, by either lack of moisture or temperature controls on bacterial and enzymatic action, causing the body to be preserved as a mummy. Frozen mummies commonly restart the decomposition process when thawed whilst heat desiccated mummies remain so unless exposed to moisture.

The bodies of newborns who never ingested food are an important exception to the normal process of decomposition. They lack the internal microbial flora that produce much of decomposition and quite commonly mummify if kept in even moderately dry conditions.

Embalming
Embalming is the practice of preserving decomposition of human and animal remains. Embalming slows decomposition somewhat, but does not forestall it indefinitely. Embalmers typically pay great attention to parts of the body seen by mourners, such as the face and hands. The chemicals used in embalming repel most insects, and slow down bacterial putrefaction by "fixing" cellular proteins, which means that they cannot act as a nutrient for bacteria, and killing the bacteria themselves.

In sufficiently dry environments, an embalmed body may end up mummified and it is not uncommon for bodies in dry vaults to remain preserved to a viewable extent after decades, such as the murdered civil rights activist Medgar Evers. Another case of this would be the body of Lenin, who was kept submerged in a special tank of fluid for decades, almost perfectly preserved. Bodies submerged in peat bog may become naturally "embalmed", arresting decomposition and resulting in a preserved specimen known as a bog body. The body of Evita Peron was kept perfectly preserved for many years, and as far as is known, may still be so (her body is no longer on display as it once was).

The time for an embalmed body to be reduced to a skeleton varies greatly. Even when a body is decomposed, embalming treatment can still be achieved (the arterial system decays slower) but would not restore a natural appearance without extensive reconstruction and cosmetic work, and is largely used to control the foul odours due to decomposition.

When people die they start decomposing almost immediately. The skin goes through several changes in color at the moment of death, until finally the blood stops circulating and this is what turns the body a bluish or ashen color.
When deceased are prepared at funeral homes, makeup is applied to be as close to the person's natural skin color that they had while alive.
Decomposing internally never stops. And after several years after burial, the process of decomposition is usually completed.

Answer 2

Embalming fluid only staves the decay process off for about 4 - 5 days. It's meant mostly to keep insects away. Nowadays, because of all the preservatives in our food, plus embalming fluid and burial conditions... it can take up to 20 years to fully decay.

Answer 3

It starts decaying the moment a person dies. But how fast? It depends upon the temperature of the surrounding. If the body is properly embalmed and kept at lower temperature the decay can be prolonged a lot.

Answer 4

Medgar Evers Body

Answer 5

10 years with embalmment

Answer 6

depends on people...i heard that if a person eats or drinks lot of honey it is good for all of us even when we are dead...but every humans body decay....probably after 3days onward...

Answer 7

Are the makers of CSI going to base a show off of this?!

It depends on the whether conditions. and bones, well.. they take.... a really long *** time.

Answer 8

Two and a half weeks and counting. I'll get back to you once it's done.

Answer 9

it depends on the type of soil it is buried in,eg sandy,clay,peat,etc

Answer 10

7months and 23days