by Eike Blohm, MD FATAL ENCOUNTERS WITH POLICE OCCUR in the U.S. with disturbing frequency, setting us apart from other Western industrial nations. A recent study published in the Annual Review of Criminology explores the drivers behind this American exce
by Jordan Arizmendi
In a study by AIP Publishing in Physics of Fluids researchers from the University of Chicago and Iowa State University developed an explanation as to how a short-range shooter may stay completely clean of any drops of blood.
Whenever a forensics team is evaluating a crime scene, the blood back splatter caused by the “turbulent vortex ring” caused by a gunshot, will push the blood droplets back to the victim. However, according to the author of the study, Alexander Yarin, “Droplets are also deflected aside, and our predictions showed that some can even land behind the victim, even though initially they were moving from the victim toward the shooter.”
The discovery might lend credence to the inexplicable courtroom puzzle as to how a short-range shooter may stay clean of any drops of blood. According to the research, the gases that emit from a firing gun interact with blood droplets in various yet predictable ways.
“The results reveal the usefulness of multiphase flow fluid mechanics for the forensic discipline of back spatter analysis,” said Yarin.
Source: forensicmag.com
