6.05 Forensic Science

Review Questions
1. What is liver mortis? How might this reveal information about the time of death? Liver mortis is the settling of blood in the lowest parts of the body, and it occurs about 8 to 12 hours after death.
2. What three aspects does a forensic autopsy seek information about? Describe each of these aspects. A forensic autopsy is used to determine the time, mechanism, and manner of death. The time of death leads to why they died, the mechanism is what was used or how they died, and the manner of death is either homicide or suicide.
3. How can digestion rates give information to forensic scientists about the time of death? Digestive rates can determine their last meal and when they ate it and uses that to see how much of it has begun to break down to determine how long ago they had their last meal.
4. What is mummification? Mummification is the drying of the body and its tissues
5. How can human bones give forensic scientists can indication of age? Describe some of the aspects that would give this information. Forensic scientists use the length of the bones and they condition of the teeth to determine the age. For example, in adults they look at wear on the teeth and joints, like arthritis.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. Imagine that you are at a crime scene. You find skeletal remains, but the skeleton is not complete as some of the smaller bones are missing. The bones are within a twenty feet radius. Based on this information, what would you be able to ascertain about the time of death and the individual who was killed? I could determine the general time of death by the location of the bones. The fact that the bones are 20 feet apart and some are missing could mean they died around a year ago, small animals could’ve carried some of the smaller bones off.
2. Out of the different methods to help determine the time of death, which one do you think is most effective? Why? I think algor mitis because the body cools down after death. The temperature of the body would be an easy way of determining how long ago the body died.
3. Do you think you would like to participate in an autopsy? Why or why not? No, I don’t think I would be comfortable examining a dead body.
4. If you were a forensic anthropologist and were studying human remains, what information would you look for in the bones? Why would this information be helpful? I would look at the joints, and see if there are any signs of wear on them like arthritis, that could help determine the age of the body.
5. What can the distribution of bones tell a forensic scientist? What do you think would be the most challenging aspect of collecting skeletal remains at a crime scene? The placement of the bones can help determine how long ago they died, and the hardest part would probably be finding all of the smaller bones that could’ve been moved by small animals.