Scientific Aspect of decomposition (Abiotic+Biotic+Decomposition Reaction+Functional decomposition)

Decomposition
DEFINTION

Decomposition is the process by which organic substances are broken down into a much simpler form of matter.

One can differentiate abiotic from biotic decomposition (biodegradation). 

The former means "degradation of a substance by chemical or physical processes, e.g. hydrolysis. The latter one means "the metabolic breakdown of materials into simpler components by living organisms", typically by microorganisms.

STAGES OF ANIMAL DECOMPOSITION

1. Fresh (flesh, corpse)

2. Bloat

3. Active Decay

4. Advance decay

5. Dry/Remains

FACTORS THAT DETERMINE THE RATE AT WHICH ANIMALS DECOMPOSE

The rate and manner of decomposition in an animal body is strongly affected by several factors. In roughly descending degrees of importance, they are:

• Temperature;
• The availability of oxygen;
• Prior embalming;
• Cause of death;
• Burial, depth of burial, and soil type;
• Access by scavengers;
• Trauma, including wounds and crushing blows;
• Humidity, or wetness;
• Rainfall;
• Body size and weight;
• Clothing;
• The surface on which the body rests;
• Foods/objects inside the specimen's digestive tract (bacon compared to lettuce).

STAGES OF PLANT DECOMPOSITION

1. Leaching by water and liberation of carbon

2. Fragmentation

3. Chemical alterations

4. Mix in soil

5. Release of gas +some remains

FOOD DECOMPOSITION - Spoilage

Decomposition reaction - A decomposition reaction is where a complex substance breaks down to form two separate substances. It can be shown in an equation such that AB --> A+ B.

FOOD DECOMPOSITION - Starts with spoilage

Functional Decomposition is the process of taking a complex process and breaking it down into its smaller, simpler parts.

It is the functional relationship into its constituent parts in such a way that the original function can be reconstructed from those parts by functional decomposition.

• For instance, think about using an ATM. You could decompose the process into:
• Walk up to the ATM
• Insert your bank card
• Enter your pin
• well...you get the point.
• You can think of programming the same way. Think of the software running that ATM:
• Code for reading the card
• PIN verification
• Transfer Processing
• Each of which can be broken down further. Once you've reached the most decomposed pieces of a subsystem, you can think about how to start coding those pieces. You then compose those small parts into the greater whole.
• Decomposition (programming)
• The benefit of functional decomposition is that once you start coding, you are working on the simplest components you can possibly work with for your application. Therefore developing and testing those components becomes much easier (not to mention you are better able to architect your code and project to fit your needs).
• The obvious downside is the time investment. To perform functional decomposition on a complex system takes more than a trivial amount of time BEFORE coding begins.
• Personally, I think that amount of time is well worth it.

TYPES OF DECOMPOSITION

1. Thermal - Decomposition through heating. 

2Pb (NO3)2 = (on heating) 2PbO + 4NO2 + O2

2. Photo - Decomposition through light. 

When placing silver chloride in to sunlight it produces deep colored silver metal and chlorine.

3. Electro chemical - Electrolysis of water.

2H20 = H2 + 02