Heather Anne Yeakel

 To further understand the field of forensic science with regard to blood spatter  To discover whether or not weapons that cause blunt force trauma would create different patterns of blood spatter

 Blood spatter and the reasons spatter patterns differ was researched  Specifically, high, medium, and low velocity spatter and the different causes of these spatters  Blunt force trauma weapons mainly cause medium velocity spatter, that was researched further

 If a fist, plank of wood, and bat impact a sponge, then their spatter patterns will be both numerically and visually different

 1 Card Board Box  1 Sponge  1 Bat  1 Plank of Wood  1 Human Fist  1 Measurement Grid (3cm)  White Paper  Fake Blood  44 g of Corn Starch  80 mL water  160 mL Corn Syrup  Red Food Coloring  Green Food Coloring

 Fake blood was created according to the recipe on the materials slide  For each trial a sponge was soaked in the blood solution and then placed in a cardboard box lined with white paper  The weapons were used to strike the sponge  This was done three times with each weapon and the paper was changed between each trial  The spatters were then analyzed using a grid system and the data was recorded

 Independent Variable ◦ Weapon used to strike sponge  Dependant Variable ◦ Spatter pattern created by weapon  Constant Variable ◦ Set up of the box

Average Number of Blood Spatter FistWoodBat Back Front Right Front Left Right Side Left Side

Standard Deviation FistWoodBat Back Front Right Front Left Right Side Left Side

P VALUES Back Fist/ Back Wood8.64E-17 Back Fist/ Back Bat9.78E-50 Back Wood/ Back Bat4.10E-07 Right Side Fist Right Side Wood4.11E-06 Right side Fist/ Right Side Bat2.55E-38 Right Side Wood/ Right Side Bat4.80E-30 Left Side Fist/ Left Side Wood1.55E-23 Left Side Fist/ Left Side Bat3.78E-43 Left Side Wood/ Left Side Bat8.11E-03 Right Front Fist/ Right Front Wood7.28E-04 Right Front Fist/ Right Front Bat1.53E-12 Right Front Wood/ Right Front Bat4.04E-09 Left Front Fist/ Left Front Wood3.56E-08 Left Front Fist/ Left Front Bat4.52E-10 Left Front Wood/ Left Front Bat

 A fist, a plank of wood, and a bat created different blood spatter patterns both visually and numerically  If further experimentation was to be done a device should be created to guide the weapon to the sponge to ensure the weapons impact the sponge at the same angle  To further expand on this topic this experiment could be preformed with weapons that create high velocity spatter

 Force of impact  Angle of impact  The amount of blood soaked in the sponge  The place where the sponge was struck

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