a body was found in an office building at 4:37. the ambulance and police arrived 10 minutes later at 4:47 and they discovered the body was 72.4 degrees F. Every room in the office is set to 65 degrees F. Find the time of death. The average body temperature is 98.6 degrees F
Answer (1)
The time of death is around 11:00 PM the night before.This is a forensic cooling problem using Newton's Law of Cooling.Average cooling rate ≈ 1.5°F per hour in a cool room.Initial body temp = 98.6°FFound temp = 72.4°FTemp drop = 98.6 – 72.4 = 26.2°FEstimate: 26.2 ÷ 1.5 ≈ 17.5 hours before 4:37 PM
