George Chaney

1.1.5: Time of Death Experimental

Introductionhighlight key info below
The emergency call came in at 9:45 am. The police and the EMT arrived at the scene at 9:56 am. Anna Garcia, a 38 year old woman, was found dead lying face down in her entry hallway in a pool of blood. It was a comfortable 73F inside Annas house despite it being 92F outside. She was last seen alive the night before by her former husband Alex Garcia. Investigators are trying to piece together what happened between the time that she was last seen alive and when she was found dead at the scene. Clues hidden within the body will enable medical examiners to estimate her time of death. These signs include rigor mortis (the stiffening of the muscles that occurs shortly after death), lividity (the pooling of blood), algor mortis (the cooling of the body), clouding of the corneas, evidence of decomposition, and/or drying of the tissues. After death, a body will lose heat at a rate approximately one-and-a-half degrees per hour until it reaches the temperature of the surrounding environment. Many factors influence the rate of heat loss including clothing, victim size, and environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. The body core temperature can be measured rectally or with a hypodermic probe of the liver or brain, because of their large mass and density. In this activity you will investigate how ambient temperature, the temperature in a room or the temperature surrounding an object, affects the cooling rate of a simulated body. You will also estimate Annas time of death based on her core body temperature. Hypothesis: Body temperature will change the fastest in hot weather because of the sun and clothing on the body. Independent variable: Ambient temperature Dependent variable: Annas body temperature Procedure: 1. Decide who will be the LEAD direction giver and make sure your team follows these steps. The other person/people will do most of the set-up & running of lab. 2. Wear the appropriate personal protective equipment. 3. Create the following three water baths: Just make the ONE that you were assigned!

2013 Project Lead The Way, Inc Edits in red by Mrs. Hisrich. PBS Activity 1.1.5 Time of Death Experimental Design Page 1

o A 250 mL beaker filled with 200 mL of water on a hot plate set to medium heat that is approximately 50C. On our hot plates, Id turn it to high until it gets to 50C and then turn it down until you find a number that maintains that temperature. This is TRICKY! Youll probably need to fiddle with the dial throughout the lab. o A 250 mL beaker filled with 200 mL of water at room temperature (approximately 20C). Measure the temp to figure out what ACTUAL room temp is right now and adjust by adding warmer/cooler water as necessary. o A 250 mL beaker filled with 200 mL ice water (0C). Measure the temp to figure out what the EXACT temperature is (and record it). 4. Obtain three test tubes and measure and place 1 gram of sodium polyacrylate into each. Just do one. Youll use the ghost crystals by one of the scales. Turn on the scale and make sure it reads 0.000 g. Set the weigh boat on the tray and press the on/tare button to zero it SO IT WILL NOT WEIGH THE WEIGH BOAT. Add ghost crystals until it reads 1.000 g (0.8-1.2 g is ok). 5. Obtain three Vernier Temperature Probes, three analog thermometers, and three ring stands with clamps. Just do one. 6. Start Logger Pro software on the computers. Just do one. 7. Click on File Open and open the Forensics with Vernier folder. 8. Open the program titled 14 Hot Air, Cold Body. 9. Connect the LabQuest Mini to each computer using USB cables. Just do one. 10. Connect the Temperature Probes (just do one) into CH 1 of the LabQuest Minis using the British Telecom connector. 11. Place the thermometer in the water baths (just do one) to ensure that they maintain the correct temperatures. Record this temperature in the Evidence Record table. 12. Attach the Temperature Probes (just do one) to the clamp on the ring stands. 13. Place 20 mL of 37 water into the test tubes (just do one). These represent dead bodies. Use your GRADUATED CYLINDER to measure the 20 ml and use the water from the hot water bath on my desk. Bring your test tube WITH YOU. You can simply dip the G.C. into the water bath to get the 20 mL. Make sure to then pour it IMMEDIATELY into the test tube, combining the ghost crystals with the water to make your WATERLOCK.

2013 Project Lead The Way, Inc Edits in red by Mrs. Hisrich. PBS Activity 1.1.5 Time of Death Experimental Design Page 2

Set-up for COLD

Set-up for ROOM TEMP

Set-up for HOT

14. Place a test tube with waterlock representing the dead body in each of the three water baths. (just do the one you prepped in the bath that you prepped) 15. Place a Temperature Probe in the center of each test tube with waterlock. (just do one) 16. Click to begin data collection. Note that the experiment is set to collect data for 20 minutes. Youll want to set it up/prop it so that you dont have to hold it the whole time. 17. Make sure to maintain a constant temperature for your water baths throughout data collection. 18. When data collection is complete (data has been collected for 20 minutes OR temperature stops fluctuating), click the Statistics button, Statistics box. , to display a

19. Record the minimum temperature recorded and the maximum temperature recorded in the appropriate spot in the Evidence Record table for each water bath. Youll just do this step for YOUR OWN DATA. 20. Record the temperature change and record in the Evidence Record table for each water bath. (Note: The temperature change is displayed in the Statistics box as y.) Walk around and visit other teams to collect their data. 21. Copy the graphs by placing the mouse cursor over the graph, left clicking, and then pressing both the Control and the C keys simultaneously. Paste the graphs into a Word document and save (paste YOUR ONE GRAPH into THIS document under the header GRAPHSeveryone in your TEAM needs the graph, so youll also post it to the Moodle forum so your teammates can pull the graph. Heres a link to the forum: http://rcsmoodle.rcs.k12.in.us/mod/forum/view.php?id=8236). To paste the graph, press both the Control and the V keys simultaneously. Repeat this step in order to copy and paste the Data Table into the Word document (Thats the data table from Vernier). Attach the graphs/tables in the Results section below.
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22. Repeat the experiment for a total of three trials. Please do TWO trials per team.

Team Evidence Record YOUR assigned temperature: (50C, room temp or 0C?) 0 C Actual Temperature of Water Bath (C): 2 C Maximum Temperature of Waterlock (C): 34.6 C Minimum Temperature of Waterlock (C): 4.1 C 30.5 C Temperature Change (C):

Class Results: Temp: Group 1 Temp Change (C): 50C Room temperature (0C) +29.6 C -4.2 C -30.5 C Group 2 Temp Change (C): +18.8 C N/A -27.9 C Average Temp Change (C): +24.2 C -4.2 C -29.2 C

Visit the other groups and collect their data for the table above. Include your own as well.

Conclusion: My hypothesis was wrong Annas body temperature changed the most in cold weather not in hot weather

23. Summary Paragraph o Write a brief paragraph. o Explain the rationale for your conclusion. o Clarify details. Write one paragraph of text explaining the rationale for the conclusion. You will DISCUSS YOUR DATA here, talking about how much the temperature changed in each tube and what that tells you about the effect of ambient tempearuter on
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body temperature after death. Feel free to delete the directions above after reading them. Summary Paragraph: The average temperature change for cold weather was -29.2 C which was where the most change occurred, the second most was hot weather with a +24.6 C and the least change occurred with room temperature and a -4.2 C drop

Conclusion My hypothesis was wrong. I said that Annas body temperature

would change most out in the desert in the heat. Instead her body temperature changed the most in cold weather and changed the least in room temperature. In order from the most change to the least it was cold weather with 29.2 C, then hot weather with 24.2 C, then room temperature with 4.2 C.

2013 Project Lead The Way, Inc Edits in red by Mrs. Hisrich. PBS Activity 1.1.5 Time of Death Experimental Design Page 5