6

Catherin Escobar

1. What is liver mortis? How might this reveal information about the time of death?
Liver Mortis is the settling of blood in the lowest parts of the body after death. This process usually begins 8 to 12 hours after death and can help investigators tell if the body has been moved.

2.What three aspects does a forensic autopsy seek information about? Describe each of these aspects?
Cause of death- medical problem that leads to death.
Mechanism of death- any weapon or instrument used in the death
Manner of death- usually refers to suicide or homicide

3.How can digestion rates give information to forensic scientists about the time of death?
When someone dies the digestion of any food eaten ceases.

4.What is mummification?
Mummification is the drying of the body and its tissues.

5.How can human bones give forensic scientists an indication of age? Describe some of the aspects that would give this information.
They focus on the lengths of the bones to see if they compare with the average age range, They also look for what condition the bones are in.

Critical thinking

1.Imagine that you are at a crime scene. You find skeletal remains, but the skeleton is not complete as some of the smaller bones are missing. The bones are within a twenty feet radius. Based on this information, what would you be able to ascertain about the time of death and the individual who was killed? If the bones are scattered it probably means that the bones have been there for a while. By this i could ascertain that the person probably died a while ago. The smaller bones would be missing because they would be carried out by animals.
2.Out of the different methods to help determine the time of death, which one do you think is most effective? Why? I think liver mortis is most effective because there is a specific time frame in which after the body dies that they can tell.
3.Do you think you would like to participate in an autopsy? Why or why not? I think I wouldn't just because I have a pretty weak stomach for those kinds of things, but if I didn't I would definitely do it because it would be so amazing to see all the insides of a human, etc.
4. If you were a forensic anthropologist and were studying human remains, what information would you look for in the bones? Why would this information be helpful? I would look to see if the bones belonged to a female or male, if it was a child or and adult and look at the sizes, check for any unhealed bullet wounds and that would probably be very helpful to piece together what might have happened to the person.
5. What can the distribution of bones tell a forensic scientist? What do you think would be the most challenging aspect of collecting skeletal remains at a crime scene? The distribution of bones tells a forensic scientist that the bones have probably been there for quite a long time and the most challenging aspect of collecting skeletal remains would be keeping them intact.