Crashes and Collapses (Essentials of Forensic Science)

Engineering scientists in motor vehicle crash investigations use forensic evidence to measure and analyze the variables involved in a car crash. Crashes and Collapses examines forensic cases and investigative methods from the forensic engineering sciences, which include the physical sciences as well as all of the engineering fields. The engineering sciences dominate forensic investigations of events underlying civil disputes while also playing an important role in criminal investigations, especially in those in which a crime has been disguised as an accident.

Crashes and Collapses provides middle and high school students with a unique look at this area of forensic science. After providing a history of forensic engineering science, this compelling new volume goes on to introduce Newton's laws of motion, which underlie accident reconstruction; the critical-speed-scuff method for determining the speed of cars; the obstacles confronting forensic investigators; and more. The book also provides enlightening looks at specific cases of crashes and collapses, presenting both the facts and analyses.

Chapters include:

• History and Guiding Principles of Forensic Engineering Science
• Accident Reconstruction: Getting Started
• Accident Reconstruction: Moving into High Gear
• Speed from Critical-Speed Scuffs
• A Double Murder Poorly Disguised as an Accident?
• The Crash of the Merchant Vessel Tamano
• Subway Stop
• Crane Collapse
• Scaffold Collapse
• Bringing It All Together: Lessons Conveyed.

Suzanne Bell, PhD, holds a degree in chemistry from New Mexico State University and an MS in forensic science from the University of New Haven. She is currently an associate professor of chemistry and director of the Bell Research Group at West Virginia University. Bell s previous work has been published in Journal of Chemical Education, Analytical Chemistry, and Journal of Forensic Science. Bell is author of The Facts on File Dictionary of Forensic Science, cited by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title, 2004. She lives in Morgantown, West Virginia.