You're not alone. How Does A Body Decompose Facilities for human taphonomy, the study of what happens to an organism after its death, or “body farms” as they. Ever wonder how long it takes for a body to decompose? It depends on the temperature of the water. Body Decomposition Timeline. Other body parts begin to take on a bluish tinge within 8 to 10 hours post-mortem. The length of time that elapses before the body rises depends not only upon the amount of fat contained in the tissues but on the temperature of the water. Now if placed in a coffin, it may take … 3-5 days after death — the body starts to bloat and blood-containing foam leaks from the mouth and nose. In cold water, the bacterial action that causes a body to bloat with gas may be so slowed that the body stays on the seabed. “It might take a little bit … wipes the body down a second time, sets the facial features and re-dresses it. Casey Allen / Unsplash “The rate of decomposition varies greatly due mostly in part to environment. It really depends on the cause of the death. Due to external factors such as environmnet and location, the answer may surpise you. Typically placed 6ft down, without a coffin, in ordinary soil, eight to twelve years to completely decompose into a skeleton. 8-10 days after death — the body turns from green to red as the blood … Tweet. Following is a transcript of the video.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. As with many things in life, it depends on several factors: the temperature and humidity, whether the body is in water or not, buried or not, underground or not, embalmed or not, exposed to insects or carnivores or not. 24-72 hours after death — the internal organs decompose. Your body is made up of over 200 bones, a few trillion microbes, and as many as 37 trillion cells.