Visible signs and characteristics. 1  There is a noticeable break in the pattern of the waves: the water often looks flat at the rip, in contrast to the lines of breaking waves on either side of the rip. 2  A river of foam: the surface of the rip sometimes looks foamy, because the current is carrying foam from the surf out to open water.
At the same time, without circulation to keep it moving through the body, blood starts to pool and settle. Rigor mortis, or a stiffening of the body, sets in about two to six hours after death [source: Marchant, Middleton]. While the body as a whole may be dead, little things within the body are still alive. Skin cells, for example, can be viably harvested for up to 24 hours after death [source: Mims]. But some things that are still alive lead to the putrefaction, or decomposition, of the body -- we're talking about little organisms that live in the intestines.
Q: How long do cold and flu germs stay alive after infected people cough and sneeze all over everything? A: It depends partly on where the germ-laden droplets fall. Experiments with specific cold and flu germs have shown potential survival times ranging from a few minutes to 48 hours or more. How long such germs remain capable of infecting a person is harder to say.