Rotting food and half life

cesaruelas

Is the process of rotting food or any organic material directly related to the half life of its components?

DaveC426913

No. Rotting food occurs at a cellular level. Bacteria attack the organics and break them down.

cesaruelas

Organic material in an ideally bacteria-free environment would never decompose? or only then would its decomposition be linked to the half life of its components? BTW, thank you for answering.

DaveC426913

It would. Bacteria and fungus are a major source, but the organic material will decompose on its own as well. Cells leak. Fluids mix. Components lose integrity.

If you can find any evidence suggesting a link between normal food rotting and radioactive decay, I would be quite surprised.

Borek

The notion of half life is not limited to radioactive decay.

DaveC426913

Then perhaps the OP should be explicit.

cesaruelas

My point is, can you, under certain conditions (bacteria free, certain temperature, etc.) predict when will organic matter be "unconsumable" for a human being given you only know the halflife of its components and the concentration of each in the material to analize?

russ_watters

Do you mean radioactive half life or some other kind?

cesaruelas

I originally meant radioactive half life (since I was not aware the term was used to refer to any other type of half life). Is it linked to that half life or is there an equivalent concept for decomposition of organic molecules (proteins, carbohidrates, etc)? Thanks for your answers.

russ_watters

The term can be used to describe any kind of exponential decay - for example, basketball team lifespan in a tournament.

However, for your question: our food is not significantly radioactive, so radioactive half life plays no role whatsoever in its decay as a food source.

surajt88

Not rotting in the exact sense, but may pertain to this thread as an example of degradation of food items without bacteria or fungi: Browning (food process).