The science of death.

[7ronin]

What happens when you die? From what I gather:

1) blood stops flowing
2) Oxygen stops being delivered
3) Bioelectric impulses stop (this is the part that encompasses thought)
4) cells start to die
5) blood pools on the bottom
6) rigamortis sets in
7) bowels and bladder relax
8) Skin shrinks do to dehydration
9) Insects lay eggs
10) larva and bactiria begin breaking down the corpse
11) soft tissue is consumed leaving only bone ,hair, and ,maybe leathery skin.

It's two words: rigor mortis.

Incontinence #7 should be moved to #4. This doesn't always happen.

Pooling of blood is called livor mortis.

#'s 9, 10, and 11 don't always happen depending on time and place of death and post mortem treatment of the body (e.g. embalming).

You also need to add:
*Core body temperature drops.
*Body becomes pale: pallor mortis.
*Unresponsiveness to stimuli.

It may be that only a part of #3 occurs first. In which case #'s 1 and 2 will continue. This is what is known as a persistent vegetative state: the brain (or most of it is dead) but the organs still function.

Your list can really be devided into two lists: death and post death. Decompostion occurs post death.

If you really want to know more about the two aspects of this subject, I recommend reading the following:
What Happens When We Die?: A Groundbreaking Study into the Nature of Life and Death by Dr. Sam Parnia
Death's Acre : Inside the Body Farm, the legendary forensic lab by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson