Before we can work out what happened to our victim, we need to know when they died.
The Evidence
Activity 1
Above are all the items found near the body. Can any of them help us find out when the victim died?
How can we use mathematics to help us calculate time of death?
During an autopsy or analysis of the body estimating the time of death of the deceased is key. Sometimes we cannot calculate the time of death exactly so we need to use a method to help us estimate the time of death.
According to Forensics UK (2017), time of death can be estimated by using body temperature. The typical body temperature of a human being is 37.5 degrees Celsius. For every hour the body is in the environment, the temperature of the body drops 1.5 degrees Celsius until it reaches an ambient temperature. The ambient temperature - depending on how low it is - may take minutes or hours to be reached and this is a good indicator as to how long it has been in situ (Forensics UK, 2017). If a body however is exposed to extreme cold e.g. being left outdoors or submerged in icy water or extreme heat e.g. locked in a car in summer, the bodies temperature will drop at a different rate.