title: Errors in the estimation of the distance of fall and angles of impact blood drops.
abstract: This paper presents derived equations for the estimation of the variances in the estimated distance of fall and the estimated angle of impact for blood droplets. The derived equation for the variance of the estimated distance of fall predicts that as the blood drop size approaches that of a blood droplet falling at terminal velocity, the variance of the estimate grows without limit. The derived equation for the variance in the estimated angle of impact shows that as the angle of impact approaches 90 degrees, the variance grows without limit. The validity of the equation for the estimated variance of the angle of impact was tested for five angles of impact (15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 degrees); the equation correctly predicted the observed variance up to an angle of 60 degrees.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Willis
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Piranian
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Donaggio
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Rowe
mesh_terms: D001769:Blood; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D010825:Physics