If bacteria die from (for example, boiled water) where do their corpses go?
In: Biology
The temperature of the water makes most of the structural molecules and proteins to dissolve (denaturate), making it into a liquid. Since there is nothing more resistant to heat like bones, you cannot find any remains.
There are other organisms of the same size that have capsule-like protections that can resist heat, like the silicon shells of diatoms (algae) and some spores from fungi and plants.
Still there. Unless washed away somehow. That’s why you can reheat food that’s on verge of spoiling doesn’t always help much. The dead bacteria and more importantly, the poisons they produced are still in it.
Imagine boiled eggs, protein chains shrink and solidify, so they clump together even though their cells explode and fall apart.
Since intact cells don’t exist anymore, it’s sterile and unless the bacteria produced some toxins that aren’t broken down by heat, it’s safe to drink.
They stay in the water and get dissolved. So basically anything you eat that has been cooked has some dead bacteria as part of the food. Enjoy!
Bacteria bodies are completely harmless and make up a very small amount of the substance so it’s really not a concern. Only problem can be that some bacteria produce toxins and those toxins don’t go away so if you have something that has been really infected by bacteria then it’s probably not safe to eat even after removing the bacteria.
They break up and you have harmless microscopic debris in the water. Water has a lot of junk in it, it’s not a big deal
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