Everyone is affected by death at some point in their lives. Whether it is due to a family member or a pet being lost, or even their own death, we all are affected by it. Something else we are all affected by is chemistry. Chemistry can be found in everything, including death. The chemistry of death is a very interesting subject, especially with the viewpoint of how it affects the body before, during, and after death actually occurs. Our group chose this topic because like many people at the beginning of this course, we associated chemistry strictly with bright chemicals in test tubes, lab coats, and funny looking flasks. However, chemistry is so much more. In fact, it is in literally everything. There are chemical reactions to explain taking a step, mowing a lawn, and even kicking the can. Once we started looking into it, we …show more content…
According to these scientists, there are many stages of death, seven in total, with subcategories in a few stages. These stages are pallor mortis, algor mortis, rigor mortis, livor mortis, putrefaction, decomposition, and skeletonization. You may have noticed that the word “mortis” is present in many of the names of the stages, this is because “mortis”, a word of latin origin, means "of death". So all those stage names are an aspect of death. For example rigor mortis means “stiffness of death”. All these phases together create the complete process of death, from the moment one dies to the outright decomposition of one’s skeleton.
Pallor mortis is a “post mortem paleness that occurs in those with light/white skin” (Source 10) which is the first stage of death. It is the “result from the cessation of capillary circulation throughout the body.” (Source 10) Pallor mortis occurs quickly after post mortem, typically within fifteen to twenty-five minutes. Post mortem means after death. After the cessation, gravity causes blood to sink into the lower parts of the body, creating livor