What term refers to the stiffening of the body after death?

Rigor mortis is the correct term for the stiffening of the body after death. This physiological phenomenon occurs due to biochemical changes in the muscles as the body transitions from life to death. After an individual dies, the muscles begin to stiffen typically within a few hours, reaching peak rigidity around 12 to 24 hours postmortem. The process results from the depletion of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in muscle cells, which is essential for muscle contraction and relaxation. Without ATP, the muscles become locked in a contracted state, causing the body to stiffen.

The other terms refer to different processes associated with death. Cadaveric rigidity, while related to rigor mortis, is not the precise term used in forensic science. Algor mortis refers to the cooling of the body after death, and lividity describes the pooling of blood in the lower parts of the body, contributing to the identification of the time of death. Each of these processes serves to provide forensic investigators with valuable information about the time and circumstances of death, but rigor mortis is specifically the term that denotes the stiffening of the body.