Employee Separation / Asset Related Charges, Net (Asset Impairment) (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Definite-lived Intangible Assets, Gross	$ 3,531	$ 3,454
Industrial Biosciences [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Impairment of intangible assets, indefinite-lived (excluding goodwill)	158
Trade Names [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Impairment of intangible assets, indefinite-lived (excluding goodwill)	158
Trade Names [Member] \| Industrial Biosciences [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Impairment of intangible assets, indefinite-lived (excluding goodwill)	158
Definite-lived Intangible Assets, Gross	$ 28

Amount before amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of impairment loss resulting from write-down of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance and having a projected indefinite period of benefit to fair value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16373-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ImpairmentOfIntangibleAssetsIndefinitelivedExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=dd_IndustrialBiosciencesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_TradeNamesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: