# Open casket funerals - why is the corpse so cold? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2002, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-casket-funerals-why-is-the-corpse-so-cold/143148 "2002-12-16T19:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-casket-funerals-why-is-the-corpse-so-cold/143148/21 "2002-12-17T04:25:31Z")
My grandmother kissed my grandfather on the forehead before they closed the casket. ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-casket-funerals-why-is-the-corpse-so-cold/143148/22 "2002-12-17T05:46:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*Embalming fluid is mostly formaldehyde, which I understand is a solution containing alcohol and water. Sounds like it has lower boiling point than water, which means more evaporative cooling. > \*\* Actually, no. Formaldehyde is it’s own substance: CH[sub]2[/sub]O. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-casket-funerals-why-is-the-corpse-so-cold/143148/23 "2002-12-17T05:58:56Z")
I realize formaldehyde is the name of the chemical, but according to [this page](http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=PREAMBLES&p_id=923): > [@](#): > > The chemical “formaldehyde” is a colorless, pungent gas at room temperature with an approximate odor threshold of about 1 ppm. While the term “formaldehyde” is also used to describe various mixtures of formaldehyde, water, and alcohol, the term “formalin” more precisely describes aqueous solutions, particularly those containing 37 to 50 percent formaldehyde and 6 to 15 percent alcohol stabilizer. Most formaldehyde enters commerce as formalin. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-casket-funerals-why-is-the-corpse-so-cold/143148/24 "2002-12-17T06:25:22Z")
Although it’s probably not an issue for a body that has been embalmed, cleaned, and preserved in a cool environment, a lot of different people touching a corpse is a potential way for a disease to be transmitted. There’s probably not many diseases that could be transmitted in this way, but I know that Ebola is one of them. I saw something about that being a problem in some parts of Africa where contact with the deceased is customary. One person dies and everybody comes together for the funeral providing a fertile ground for the disease to spread. [\END HIJACK] [http://rarediseases.about.com/library/weekly/aa112100a.htm](http://rarediseases.about.com/library/weekly/aa112100a.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-casket-funerals-why-is-the-corpse-so-cold/143148/25 "2002-12-17T07:06:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*I realize formaldehyde is the name of the chemical, but according to [this page](http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=PREAMBLES&p_id=923) \*\* I understand. I knew formalin was different but I wasn’t sure how. Thank you for clarifying. All the same, formalin has formaldehyde in it. You said that formaldehyde was just alcohol and water. I’ve used formaldehyde to refer to formalin, but the solution isn’t JUST alcohol and water in any case. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-casket-funerals-why-is-the-corpse-so-cold/143148/26 "2002-12-19T05:59:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dorkusmalorkusmafia \* > **1) The body seems cold because you expect it to be living and thus warm.** Yes. A huge yes. > [@](#): > > **2) Typically, morgues are kept fairly cold (I believe to keep bodies from decomposing)** No. The _coolers_ in the morgue are cold to refridgerate the bodies. Don’t confuse the morgue with the funeral home. > [@](#): > > **3) I believe, but am not sure, that during the wake that the bodies are kept in a cold room (to also help prevent decomposition) before the viewing is done.** No and no. The bodies just lay in the viewing room, unless it is needed, in which case they are moved. The embalming does a pretty good job and the stiffs can lay around for a few days without being worse for the wear. The psychological effect is probably the biggest thing. We are so used to bodies being warm, because they’re alive and producing heat, that touching a cold one comes as quite a shock. In fact, after getting used to dead bodies being cold, a warm dead body is unsettling. But that _cold_ is probably due to the expectation of warmth and the warmth’s absence. A human body shouldn’t feel tepid, so the feeling is heightened. The stiffness can be quite a shock, too. And don’t ever look into the eyes of someone who has died jaundiced. The other thing to keep in mind, as **SC\_Wolf** mentioned, the conductivity of the skin should play a role as well. Skin absorbs and releases heat, that’s why we wear winter clothes and our brains don’t fry in the summer. Since the skin will conduct heat better than most the stuff you’re touching in the funeral home, it will feel cold. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Engywook_ > **…quite sure that the skin was objectively cooler than the smooth sides of the coffin, and well below room temperature.** Right. It was a wood casket, wasn’t it? It probably wouldn’t have felt cooler than a metal one. Plus air is a poor conductor of heat–hence double pained windows insulate well–so the body would feel cooler than the room. In fact I submit that the body felt _subjectively_ cooler than the air or the casket. “Objective” implies that you used a thermometor instead of your hand. The weirdest thing is when somebody donates bone. It literally feels like raw meat. I cannot even begin to describe the feeling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-casket-funerals-why-is-the-corpse-so-cold/143148.md?page=1)