forensic science part 3: embalming

not as lengthy as some of my other blogs, but i need to keep this safe somewhere. the process of embalming doesn't interest me as much as some other stuff, but it is important to know.

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okay so from what i've gathered, it's not a complicated process. they drain the blood out of one of your arteries and replace it with a solution called formalin, which is just formaldehyde diluted with water. then they take a hollow needle and extract all of the fluids in your stomach and other organs and replace it with a kind of formalin mixed with alcohols and emulsifiers. this is all to keep the body from shriveling up and getting brown. part of the process, though not officially actually part of embalming, is to use cosmetics shit like makeup to enhance the appearance and make the person not look dead as hell. 

what formaldehyde does is it changes your cells on a molecular level so that bacteria and microbes aren't interested in them anymore. it hides all the yummy glucose derivatives. most embalming liquids also contain alcohol to kill the bacteria as well.