Cool for the Room Newton\'s

¶ … Cool for the Room

Newton's law of cooling

TOO COOL FOR THE ROOM

Too Cool for the Room

Too Cool for the Room

Tom Roman arrived at 1185 Christie Street and the body of Elizabeth Montrose was cold. It was 2 am. Her husband, Dr. Jack Montrose, called 911 after arriving home to find her lying dead on the floor, the apparent victim of strangulation during a robbery. When Roman got there the Medical Examiner was already examining the body and forensics was dusting for fingerprints. The husband revealed that a laptop and all of his wife's jewelry were apparently gone. An officer reported that a window in the basement had been broken and Roman assumed that was the point of entry. Just below the window was a large horizontal freezer, he noticed the lid had been dimpled where the thieves came in. He opened it to see the usual cellophane wrapped meat and four tray of ice cubes side by side on top of them, neatly arranged

"Roman," it was Bisby the Medical Examiner. Tom went upstairs and Bisby stated that the time of death had to be between 8 and 10 that evening judging by the heat the body had lost at room temperature. Tom asked Mr. Montrose why he had come home so late. "I had just returned from giving a lecture in San Francisco, the plane arrived at 10 but I was stuck in traffic for about an hour so I didn't get home till a little before 2." Tom was suspicious since the large majority of burglars will flee rather than kill but after checking the arrival time of the plane this seemed to rule out the husband.

Back at the corner's office Tom was going over the detail of the initial findings and looking at the photos of the victims back asked Bisby what the strange pattern on her back was. "That is some postmortem lividity, the blood settled in her back but I' not sure where that pattern came from, perhaps something in her dress or the carpet matting." (Sachs, 2001; Stacy, Williams, Worden, & McMorris,1955). Tom looked at the image, a grid pattern eight blocks across and twelve down. He grabbed his cell phone and called the desk Sergeant, "Send a car out to the Montrose residence and arrest Mr. Bisby for murder."

STOP

At this point in the story ask the class, "Does anyone know why Detective Roman was suddenly convinced that Mr. Montrose murdered his wife?" Write all the answers down on the board without getting explanations and then go back and ask the students why they thought it. Some may figure it out, some may not but it is the thought processes they use, the deductive reasoning and scientific interest that should be highlighted at this time. Then say "OK, let's see what happens in the interrogation room with Detective Roman and Mr. Montrose."

"Well, Mr. Montrose, or can I call you Jack, thought you would get away with it didn't you."

"Get away with what," the agitated widower shouted, "What have you arrested me for you should be out looking for those burglars instead of wasting your time with me. Your own Medical Examiner stated that my wife was killed between 8 and 10 and I was in flight during that time, check with the airline if you don't believe me."

"Oh I did check and yes you were happily flying the friendly skies of United. And yes, the ME stated that the 120 pound Mrs. Montrose's core body temperature was 96.1 degrees Fahrenheit and in a 78 degree room that puts the time of death at least 3 to 4 hours earlier.

"There you see," said Mr. Montrose triumphantly, "I couldn't have done it."

"Well, I am afraid you did do it," Tom slams the photo of Mrs. Montrose's back on the table with the checkerboard pattern on it, "and this proves it. And if you hadn't been so lazy as to make the burglars point of entry over the freezer in your basement I would never have looked in it. You see, after you strangled your wife you place her body in the freezer for and hour, that hour you said you were stuck in traffic. I checked that as well. Between midnight and 2 am the highway was clear. I had the uniform officers check the temperature of your freezer and at 0 degrees the body would have dead just over an hour. That pattern on her back, it's those ice cube trays that saw in the freezer side by side. Her blood pooled around them as the postmortem lividity occurred and created that pattern" (Sachs, 2001; Stacy, Williams, Worden, & McMorris,1955). The husband's broke down and confessed to the crime. Roman asked, "By the way, what was that lecture on that you gave?"

"Molecular Physics." Mr. Montrose is now serving 25 years to life without parole.

Now go over the answers that were given again earlier and show how each one had some level of validity and also point out the ones that were correctly applying the principles to be discussed with Newton's law of cooling.

Newton's law of cooling states that an object that is heated beyond the ambient temperature of its surrounding will begin to cool when the energy that was heating it is no longer applied. In this case, after a body has died the chemical reaction that keeps it around 98.6? F. cease to function and the body's mass will begin to cool. Quickly at first and then plateau as it reaches the ambient temperature.