Decay

Deterioration or depletion of the components of a system. It is contrasted with positive entropy, which connotes a loosening or spreading apart of components, as a process of system decline. In decay, changes lead to a gradual transition from systemic wholeness or coherence to dissolution or morbidity. In radioactive decay matter effectively becomes energy. In organic death, also bound by conservation of energy rules, the physical system is depleted of something which is exchanged with the environment. The human body is constantly deteriorating (and renewing) and consequently exchanging energy, soul or substance with its environment or universe.