A forensic doctor, on a cool morning (15 ° C), arrives at the scene of a accident and sees that the temperature of a corpse is 25◦C. Establish the approximate time of the victim's death.

Question

Suggestion;

make the assumptions you consider necessary but justify them

Answer 1

Vlad

Here you use Newton's Law of cooling

dT/dt = -k (T-T₀)

T₀ is the room temperature (15).

T is the body temperature. I guess you can assume at t=0 T = 37.2

Then you need to find t, when T = 25

k is a positive constant, which depends on the object that cools. I don't know what it is for a dead body, you will have to research it.

Then knowing k, dT/T-T₀ = -k dt

Integrating both sides. ln (T-T₀) = -kt + C

T-T₀ = C₁ e^-kt

T = T₀+C₁e^-kt

Mike