What happens when you're cremated?

A 24-hour waiting period and a minimal container are required. Pacemakers and other medical devices must be removed. Your body is placed inside a specially designed furnace or retort. At a typical temperature of 1,500 degrees, cremation takes two to three hours. Seven to nine pounds of bone fragments are all that remain. The fragments are then pulverized into smaller pieces that resemble crushed seashells.