THE EFFECT OF VOLUME, FORCE AND SURFACE

• Jurisdiction: Australia

[97.1040] Overview

Early studies of bloodstain pattern analysis appeared to make the assumption that a blood droplet had a "typical" volume of approximately 0.05 ml or 50 µL: MacDonell (1993). While this volume might approximate that for blood dripping off some objects, for instance a finger, it does not necessarily represent the volume of blood droplets dripping off other objects, such as knives, sticks or guns. Measurement of blood droplet volumes falling from various objects demonstrated that the concept of a uniform droplet volume is generally inappropriate: Pizzola, Roth and De Forest (1986a). Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the volume of a blood droplet falling away from a surface due...