Week 7

1. What is the Newton’s Law of Cooling?

It is the difference between the temperature of a body or an object with respect to the environment.

2. What variables in your problem correspond with the variables in the Newton’s Law of Cooling?

There are some variables like the environment’s temperature, the temperature of the corpse, the time of death, etc.

3. According to this Law, at what time approximately the death happened?

We do not have the answer for that yet.

4. How does the room temperature affect the time of death?

The body tends to try to reach equilibrium with the environment’s temperature, so according to this Law, the temperatures should get balanced and in this case, the body after some time turns into the same temperature that the environment has. In general, when the body dies and its molecules stop moving, it tends to cold until reaching the environment’s temperature.

5. How does an illness (e.g. fever) affect the time of death?

This variable affects the original body temperature, so we cannot get an accurate result if we not consider the correct value for y=temperature when t=0.

6. How exact is the approximation of the Newton’s Law of Cooling for predicting the time of death?

It is one of the most exact methods although we have to consider that there are hundreds of external factors, and some of them are not even considered that easily, for example the kinds of food the dead person ate or the possible presence of a warming machine in the room. Those factors must be considered in order to get good results.

Introducing Now: THE MISERY MACHINE!

Bonjour! Nous sommes The Misery Machine!

We originally formed part of an elite mystery-solving organization whose name we cannot mention, however we knew we deserved more difficult tasks of crime.

Considering the strongest abilities of each one, we decided to task ourselves with the following roles:

Raul Alvarez: The Media Expert

Damaris Villegas: The Journalist

Alberto Ruiz: The Math Expert

Francisco Camacho: The Math Expert

Elizabeth Muez: The forensic Scientist

We are pretty sure that we can solve this case as fast as we arrive the place where it happened. At least, we hope that our vehicle arrives before breaking down into pieces. I must say, that after being introduced to the case, we have some conclusions about the first concepts we must understand about it:

1. What is forensic science?

The original meaning is: "Any aspect of science as it relates to law" but according to what I read it involves much more, and can be named as a science which determines the causes of the death of people and which has a justice side which tries to unmask crime.

The forensic science nowadays covers:

Modern computer/clay facial reconstruction, DNA fingerprinting, Autopsy techniques, Forensic anthropology, Toxicology, etc.

2. What kind of evidence can be collected in a murder case?

There are many kinds of evidence. We can consider the dates, the positions of the involved characters after and before the murder, the temperature of the environment and the temperature of the body, etc.

3. Why is important to determine the time of death?

Because with it we can determine if the person who is thought as the murderer was in the room at the time of death. Also this can help us as a powerful evidence of how he might died.

4. What methods are commonly used to find the time of death?

The rate method which is done by measuring the change produced by a process which takes place at a known rate which was either initiated or stopped by the event under investigation.

The concurrence method, which is done by comparing the occurrence of events which took place at known times with the time of occurrence of the event under investigation.

5. What factors are considered in Algor Mortis?

In general, the temperature of the body as well as the physical details as the size, the clothes. Also, the characteristics of the environment, for example, the temperature and humidity.

6. How does the environment affect the time of death?

The temperature of the environment and the temperature of the body try to reach a balance, and according to the Newton's Law of Cooling, a body can lose heat faster if the temperature drops.

7. What can you tell about the different methods of temperature reading of the body? Do they make a difference in the results?

Yes, because they focus on different aspects. We may not be sure of only one result because many factors may interfer in our research, for example the environment conditions and the physical and physiological factors.

As my personal conclusion, after all of this I think that the purpose of the activity is to introduce us to modern applications of math as well as how to use all those abilities relating to observation, research, and comparing, I think that after this activity I am going to see the side of math which can apply to my life and how it can be helpful for real. It is like math coming out from the books and appearing around us only visible for those who know how to search for it and its answers.

A few days ago...

This week was too busy for me, starting with the exams and the proyects of the school that consumed most of my time. I would like to have had more time to organize my plans and all those things I have pendant but I had not the time and I only regret that I did bad in may on my exams, but, at least it is only the first partial and I did my best so it doesn't matter.

Relating to calculus, well with the exam I found out that the time I inverted studying the sunday was worth of it and I discovered that I am not as lost as I was at the beginning of the partial. In general, I feel that I am understanding well this area of the mathemathics and that makes me feel well because I am usually slow with numbers and sometimes they are not easy for me. I believe that I will do very well in the next calculus partials because this time I had a good beginning compared with the last semester in differential calculus. I will continue doing my best with homeworks. I think that's all about school.

The last week I had to leave on Friday to Guadalajara because I had the interview of the Medicine Career. It was an express voyage but I had the chance to do a lot of things. On saturday I stayed in my cousin's home and we went to watch the game Chivas-Atlas in the Jalisco Stadium. Also, on that same saturday we went to the Holy Eucharist. The sky was covered with clouds and the sound of the wind cried with force in that region, many thunders and rays. I couldn't avoid feeling touched by the salms of salvation and the words of faith.

I loved the experience of eating the bread and drinking the holy wine. That was also a beautiful experience. In that weekend and during my time in that house, I remember how it was in the first time I stayed there and I thought about many things that have changed. I advanced pretty much in my essays and I wrote many pages, I just needed a moment to leave the monotony of all days.

I enjoyed a lot this week because altough it was difficult to acomplish every responsibility I had, I achieved it and I feel satisfied of that. Today friday, at 3:00, I will travel to Guadalajara with the generation and I hope I enjoy it a lot. I will write when I get a little bit more time, right now I will pack my things.

MURDER, WE WROTE...

The professor has been murdered...And now it is up to us to discover if the lady was the real murderer or not. That's really cool. I never thought that I would find an activity so amazing like this in my last semester of high school. What is it about? The game goes like this:

The professor was found dead in the library, killed by a lethal injection. However, the syringe has a lady's fingerprints on it. We are four guys who have the task of gathering information and facts that will determine the lady's innocence or guiltiness. How are going to do it? Using math to establish conclusions about the dead body's temperature change and using the facts that we find in our research. But that's not all. At the end we will have to show a movie where we show our evidence respecting to the case...

I really love this kind of games and what I like the most is that we will make the movie at the end, seems to me that it will be very fun, I want to know how the other guys are going to do it.

"DONDE REINA EL AMOR, SOBRAN LAS LEYES" --Platón

El amor es y será por siempre la base en la que el universo se sostiene. Acaso sería posible que las estrellas siguiesen palpitando sin la fuerza del amor? Realmente el propósito de todo lo habido y por haber gira alrededor del amor universal, puro y sobre todo, libre. El amor debe ser libre siempre; el amor verdadero logra su libertad siempre. Resulta irónico para nosotros, así como lo fue para los grandes pensadores de la Antigua Grecia, el aprender que este universo, regido de millones de leyes que se entrelazan y coordinan, esté sostenido por el amor. Cuál habrá sido la sorpresa de Platón, el descubrir por sí mismo que todas esas leyes resultan insignificantes cuando existe el amor dentro de nosotros. Y no es que el universo pierda su valor, sino todo lo contrario...llegamos al punto de origen, a la inefable simpleza de la existencia, al aliento de vida, que es el amor.

Cada uno de nosotros así como cada criatura que habita en el universo tiene su propia forma de hacer vibrar el amor, a veces de formas distintas, sin embargo, al venir todos del mismo origen,

al llevar todos el amor en nuestro interior, podemos sentirnos como hermanos.

" We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others..."

Each person in the world is at the level that he or she deserves. That's why we say that each person has its own truth and his own reality, because that depends on what we deserve to know and what not. So, nobody has the right to interfere in the personal situation of the other people. This phrase basically resumes the fact that we are the owners of our own life, and the events that happen to us must teach us what we need to know in the exact moment. It is simple, we are more conscious of the things we found by ourselves than from the things that happened to others. That's how it works, that's how we get the experience we need, and it depends on us if we accept or not the things we receive, it depends on us if we go up into the next level or stay where we are.