Having gone inexplicably dark in exploring the white and black markets for cadavers yesterday, we thought it might be a good time to get back on the right side of the law by creating the world's first free app for estimating how long ago a person died from the temperature of their corpse.
The tool below is based on Catherine Lipford's Powerpoint presentation on "The Calculus of CSI", in which we will apply Newton's Law of Cooling to solve the problem of algor mortis: the slow change in temperature that a formerly living, healthy body experiences as it equilibrates with its surrounding environment.
Just enter the indicated information in the tool below to do the math for either our default example or the situation that applies for the corpse under your consideration.... (If you're reading this article on a site that republishes our RSS news feed, click here to access a working version of this tool!
For CSI wannabes, ideally, these temperatures need to be recorded at the time and place where the body is discovered, taking care to note the time of discovery. Sadly, what you will need to do to take accurate measurements will not be consistent with the glamorous career that television makes this kind of work out to be.
For our default example, it would seem that some 6.06 hours have elapsed since death occurred. Determining the time of death then is as simple as turning the clock back from the time the body's and the ambient temperature was measured by that amount.
Welcome to the blogosphere's toolchest! Here, unlike other blogs dedicated to analyzing current events, we create easy-to-use, simple tools to do the math related to them so you can get in on the action too! If you would like to learn more about these tools, or if you would like to contribute ideas to develop for this blog, please e-mail us at:
ironman at politicalcalculations.com
Thanks in advance!
This year, we'll be experimenting with a number of apps to bring more of a current events focus to Political Calculations - we're test driving the app(s) below!
This site is primarily powered by:
CSS Validation
RSS Site Feed
JavaScript
The tools on this site are built using JavaScript. If you would like to learn more, one of the best free resources on the web is available at W3Schools.com.
Other Cool Resources
Blog Roll
- Philips 10.5W (65W) BR30 Indoor Flood LED Light Bulb
- Philips 424382 11-watt A19 LED Household Dimmable Light Bulb, Soft White
Materials on this website are published by Political Calculations to provide visitors with free information and insights regarding the incentives created by the laws and policies described. However, this website is not designed for the purpose of providing legal, medical or financial advice to individuals. Visitors should not rely upon information on this website as a substitute for personal legal, medical or financial advice. While we make every effort to provide accurate website information, laws can change and inaccuracies happen despite our best efforts. If you have an individual problem, you should seek advice from a licensed professional in your state, i.e., by a competent authority with specialized knowledge who can apply it to the particular circumstances of your case.
