Forensic Science Lab Questions
1. What physical evidence did you find at the victim’s home? A box of matches, a space heater, beer bottles, Natalie’s wallet, a V-shaped burn pattern, burned outlet, a protected surface on the ground, crazed glass, and a puddle-shaped burn pattern.
2. Describe the process that you used to take a sample of the puddle-shaped burn pattern on the floor. Why did you also take samples from the portion of the floor that was not burned? First, I took the chisel to loosen up some of the wood chips in the puddle-shaped area. Then I used I took tweezers to put loose wood chips into an air tight sealed can. Samples needed to be taken from the portion of the floor that was not burned because you need a control to compare to how the wood was before the burned pattern.
3. What evidence did the space heater provide? What did the evidence indicate? There was a cloth on the heater, the heater was on when the fire was started (on high, and there was a faulty electrical cord (the electrical cord was heated over the melting temperature and the wires melted.) There was no sharp demarcation. The evidence suggests that it could have caused the fire, but it was mostly on accident (most likely from human negligence.)
4. What information did you gain from the pictures taken at the scene? The v-shaped pattern often occurs in the area where a fire originated, so it is possible that the space heater was the fire of origin (tests needs to be run to confirm). The crazed glass (by lab results) indicated that crazing is the result of rapid cooling of hot glass by the application of water. The protected surface shows there was an object on the floor protecting the area, and there is the shape of a body that was there during the fire. The puddle-shaped burn often occurs in areas of intense burning, with or without the presence of ignitable liquids in the burn wood flooring (tests need to be run to confirm.) The burn outlet indicates that the space heater could
2. Describe the process that you used to take a sample of the puddle-shaped burn pattern on the floor. Why did you also take samples from the portion of the floor that was not burned? First, I took the chisel to loosen up some of the wood chips in the puddle-shaped area. Then I used I took tweezers to put loose wood chips into an air tight sealed can. Samples needed to be taken from the portion of the floor that was not burned because you need a control to compare to how the wood was before the burned pattern.
3. What evidence did the space heater provide? What did the evidence indicate? There was a cloth on the heater, the heater was on when the fire was started (on high, and there was a faulty electrical cord (the electrical cord was heated over the melting temperature and the wires melted.) There was no sharp demarcation. The evidence suggests that it could have caused the fire, but it was mostly on accident (most likely from human negligence.)
4. What information did you gain from the pictures taken at the scene? The v-shaped pattern often occurs in the area where a fire originated, so it is possible that the space heater was the fire of origin (tests needs to be run to confirm). The crazed glass (by lab results) indicated that crazing is the result of rapid cooling of hot glass by the application of water. The protected surface shows there was an object on the floor protecting the area, and there is the shape of a body that was there during the fire. The puddle-shaped burn often occurs in areas of intense burning, with or without the presence of ignitable liquids in the burn wood flooring (tests need to be run to confirm.) The burn outlet indicates that the space heater could