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Integrating Forensic Science: Physics-Based

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Integrating Forensic Science: Physics-Based
Introduction For the past two decades or so, television shows, books, and movies that portray detective work and forensic science have become increasingly popular among readers and enthusiasts. They demonstrate that science is an important tool in answering difficult questions regarding how the tragic assassination of President Kennedy happened for example. Forensic Science is appealing to many people because they want to be detectives to solve problems and puzzles. Today I will focus on how scientific principles embody the study of forensic science but with a main focus on how physicists and crime scene investigators use physics, among other sciences, to solve crime cases in forensics. Forensic Science is a multidisciplinary that embodies concepts in many areas including but not limited to biology, chemistry, anatomy, genetics, physics, and math. Forensic Science appeals to the natural detective in some people and also to those who like to solve complex puzzles. The ultimate goal is to make sense out of complex problems that require reasoning and involve numerical data, evidence, and uncertainty. Many areas are studied in Forensic Science for example fibers are primarily chemistry-based while other sciences are required for characterization of evidence as well as assessment of its forensic value. Other principles are shared among math, biology, and physics. Statistics, in this case, is used to access the probability of a fiber linked between suspect and victim (math) as well as microscopic observation used to differentiate natural and synthetic fibers (chemistry). Also since fibers are pieces of evidence that can be found at a crime scene; the presence of fibers may be considered trace evidence. Most trace evidence is not unique to an individual therefore comparisons must be made based on similarities and probabilities (1).
Another important biological unit is on hair. This area of expertise requires a compound microscope to observe and characterize



Cited: 1. National Research Council. 1996. National Science Education Standards. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press. 2. John Vassallo (ed) 1995 Special issue on synchrotron infrared spectroscopy Synchrotron Radiation News 8. 3. R. L. Brunelle and Reed 1984 Forensic Examination of ink and Paper (Charles C. Thomas Pub Ltd, Springfield). 4. R. Saferstein (ed) 2001 Forensic Science Handbook (Volume 1) (Prentice Hall, New Jersey) 2nd edn. 5. R. Cross, “Fatal falls from a height: Two cases studies,” J. Forensic Sci. 51, 93-99. 6. American Institute of Physics, Physicists in forensics. 2009. February 10, 2010. www.physicstoday.com 7. Tomboc, R. C. Using Trajectory Kit with Trajectory Laser Pointer. Presented at the 79th Annual conference of the international Association for identification, Phoenix, AZ, July, 1994. 8. R. W. Rivers, Basic Physics: Notes for Traffic Crash Investigators and Reconstructionists (C. Thomas, Springfield, IL, 2004). 9. Fischer, B. A. J. Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, 6th rd.; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2000; p 287. 10. MacDonnell, H. L. Flight Characteristics and Stain Patterns of Human Blood; National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, US Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 1974, pp 73-74.

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