The physiological consequences of death include: -algor mortis the reduction (algor = "cool") in body temperature following death. This is generally a steady decline until matching ambient temperature, although external factors can have a significant influence.is the reduction in body temperature following death. This is generally a steady decline until matching ambient temperature, although external factors can have a significant influence. A measured rectal temperature can give some indication of the time of death. Most used is the Glaister equation: (98.4 minus rectal temperature) div 1.5 = hours elapsed since death. -Rigor mortis a chemical change in the muscles, causing the limbs of the corpse to become stiff ("rigor") and impossible to move or manipulate. Typically, rigor sets in several hours after clinical death and subsides spontaneously in about two to three days, though the time of its onset and duration depends on ambient temperature. The biochemical cause of rigor mortis is hydrolysis of ATP in the muscle tissue, the chemical energy source required for movement. Myosin molecules devoid of ATP become permanently adherent to actin filaments and muscles become rigid. Maximum stiffness is reached around 12-24 hours post mortem. Facial muscles are affected first, with the rigor then spreading to other parts of the body. The joints are stiff for 1-3 days, but after this time general tissue decay and leaking of lysosomal intracellular digestive enzymes will cause the muscles to relax. -Livor mortis or postmortem lividity a settling of the blood in the lower (dependent) portion of the body, causing a purplish red discoloration of the skin: when the heart is no longer agitating the blood, heavy red blood cells sink through the serum by action of gravity. This discoloration does not occur in the areas of the body that are in contact with the ground or another object, as the capillaries are compressed. -decomposition in fact, decomposition begins at the moment of death. At this stage it is caused by two factors: autolysis, the breaking down of tissues by the body's own internal chemicals and enzymes; and putrefaction, the breakdown of tissues by bacteria. These processes release gases that are the chief source of the characteristic odour of dead bodies. As decomposition occurs, the internal body temperature tends to rise again. In the time to follow, the rate and the manner in which a human or animal body decomposes is strongly affected by a number of factors. In a roughly descending degree of importance, those factors include temperature, access by insects and rodents, burial, and depth of burial, trauma including wounds and crushing blows, humidity or dryness, rainfall, body size and weight, prior embalming, clothing, and the surface the body rests on. An unembalmed adult body buried six feet deep in ordinary soil without a coffin normally takes ten to twelve years to decompose fully to a skeleton, given a temperate climate. Immerse the body in water, and skeletonization occurs approximately four times faster; expose it to air, and it occurs eight times faster. The skeleton itself is not permanent either; acids in soils can reduce it to unrecognisable components as well.