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A video has revealed the gruesome step-by-step process that takes place when you die.

From your bodily functions shutting down to the process of embalming to make you presentable for your funeral, all of the gruesome details are discussed.

The video was created by the American Chemical Society on YouTube channel Reactions.

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A video by American Chemical Society explains what happens when you die. It explains the bodily functions that shut down after death. When blood stops circulating it pools in your body due to gravity (shown) your cells begin to die. This makes your body bacteria and fungi start to decompose your body

It begins: 'Let's say hypothetically that you were to just slump over dead in your chair right now, so what happens next?'

First, according to the narrator, your heart stops bumping so the flow of blood around your body ceases.

This causes it to coagulate, forming clots and becoming thick and lumpy.

It also gets pulled down by the force of gravity in a process called post-mortem hypostasis or livor mortis.

'Without circulation your body temperature also drops and your muscles stiffen in a process known as rigor mortis,' the narrator continues.

This also stops you breathing, which means no oxygen gets to your cells. 

This prevents mitochondria in cells making ATP, a chemical used for many tasks, and ultimately they too die.

They results in the release of enzymes such as Lysosomal enzymes, which create an environment that is very attractive to bacteria and fungi.

These begin to decompose and putrify your body.

'Before you're buried or cremated your family may want a funeral,' says the narrator.

'To slow down the decomposition process and keep you looking tidy chemistry comes in handy via a process called embalming.'

'The embalming process happens in two steps. First, your body is going to be loaded full of conservative chemicals like formaldehyde or glutaraldehyde using a pump and your circulatory system.

'Next all your stomach contents get sucked out and all the dark nether regions touched by the circulatory system are filled up with the same chemicals. '

The embalming process allows your body to be displayed and buried without decomposing, but the process is only temporary; eventually your body will again decompose, usually in a week or so.

The awful smell that comes from a dead body comes from two particular chemical bioproducts, putrescine and cadaverine, which 'smell absolutely disgusting' according to the narrator.

To stop your body decomposing this scientists can pump you full of chemicals - called embalming. This keep you presentable for about a week such as for your funeral (stock image of cemetery in Bath shown). But ultimately your body will decompose to bones in a year or so

Other bad smelling compounds include dimethyl disulphide and dimethyl trisulfide, which both contain sulphur, that 'reek like rotten egg and skunk.'

These bioproducts also, together with many other gases, make your body extremely bloated as the decomposition process continues.

Ultimately, within a year, most of the flesh on your body will have decomposed - and in 40 to 50 years your bones will be dry and brittle, but can last for hundreds of years.

One common misconception, though, is also that hair and fingernails continue growing after death.

As explained in the video this is not the case, but rather it just seems this way because skin contracts when it is dehydrated, making them seem to grow.

'So hopefully now you've got a good sense of what happens when you can sense no more,' the video concludes.