Cremation ashes
What are cremation ashes? And are the ashes after a cremation only from the deceased. The answer is a simple, YES! The rest is consumed by heat. The processing of the fragments generates a uniform, pale grey to dark grey powder which is usually similar in texture and appearance to coarse sand. The cremated remains of an adult male will usually weigh around six pounds (3 Kg) while the remains of an adult female will be closer to four pounds (2 Kg). The height of the deceased rather than their weight has a strong correlation with the weight of the ashes produced through cremation.
Although cremated remains are commonly called ashes, in truth they are comprised of pulverized bone fragments. As was previously mentioned, the cremation process destroys all traces of organic, carbon-based matter and all bodily fluids evaporate and escape through the cremator’s exhaust. Since absolutely no organic material remains after cremation, human ashes do not present any sort of health hazard to the living or the environment. The extreme heat of the human cremator also means that little to no traces of the cremation casket or container (regardless of the material) will remain to mingle with your loved one’s ashes.
There may however be some minor traces of materials that were with the body during cremation such as implants, fillings, coffin fittings, and so on, but these will most likely be detected and removed when the ashes are passed through the magnetic field after processing. The only thing remaining of the human body after cremation is part of the skeletal structure and occasionally small amounts of salts and minerals.The human skeleton is composed mostly of carbonates and calcium phosphates. These elements give bone its extraordinary strength and durability and allow it to survive the intense heat required for cremation when all other body tissues are destroyed.
Compounds inside cremation ashes
In addition to these compounds, it is very common to find trace elements, particularly metals, in bone fragments. These metals are absorbed by the bones throughout an individual’s lifetime and remain in the skeleton after death. Interestingly, the exact percentage of certain elements within the cremated remains varies according to the individual. No two samples of human ashes will be precisely the same in terms of elemental composition. This is due to the fact that a multitude of environmental factors can influence absorption.
For instance, highly industrialized areas that experience acid rain will have a lower water pH. This lower pH allows for elements including copper, lead, and cadmium to potentially enter the drinking water and thus be ingested by people residing in the area. For similar reasons, people of lower socio-economic status who live near factories experience increased exposure to heavy metals.
These trace elements are then absorbed by the skeletal system and will later be present in that individual’s cremated remains. Diet can also influence the elemental composition of human ashes. For example, people who follow a vegetarian diet are likely to have higher levels of the element strontium in their ashes.
Some metals are actually critical to a human’s survival and must be ingested regularly including chromium, manganese, nickel, cobalt, and iron. The necessity of these metals is precisely why most commercially available multi-vitamins include them.
Other elements that could be present in human ashes in varying levels include arsenic, lead, silver, potassium, lithium, selenium, and vanadium. The variability of the elemental composition of human ashes means that each sample of cremated remains is entirely unique.
Although all that remains of a loved one after the cremation process are bone fragments, which are then processed by a cremulator into ashes, these ashes have a very special elemental signature that identifies them as belonging to your loved one and no one else. All of the unique habits and environments experienced by your loved one during their lifetime leave a distinct elemental fingerprint on their skeleton which is then present in their ashes after the cremation process.