Unit 5, Glass Evidence

Clark
PVMHS

By the end of this unit you should be able

to:

Explain how glass is formed

List some of the characteristics of glass
Provide examples of different types of glass
Calculate the density of glass
Know how the refractive index to identify
different types of glass
Describe how glass fractures
Analyze glass fracture patterns

Vocabulary, pg 395 in text

Amorphous
Becke line
Density
Leaded glass
Normal line
Obsidian
Refraction
Refractive index
Silicon dioxide

What type of evidence is glass?

Class?
Individual?
Why?

Obsidian

History of glass
Glass forms naturally when certain types of rock are
exposed to extremely high temperatures.
Pre-historic humans used obsidian as a cutting tool.
Egypt circa 2500 B.C.The earliest known humanmade glass objects (beads).
1st Century B.C.glass blowing begins.
13th Centuryspecialized glass production was an art,
a science, and a state secret in the republic of Venice.
14th Centuryglass-making spreads through Europe.

What is glass?

MIT Glass video

Crystalline solids have a regular atomic

structure
Glass is an amorphous solid and so has an
irregular atomic structure
Therefore, glass breaks in a variety of fracture
patterns

Silica sand

What is glass?

Silica (SiO2) an
amorphous solid

A hard amorphous material made by melting

silica (silicon dioxide), lime (calcium oxide), and
sodium oxide.
Calcium oxide prevents glass from being soluble in
water.
Sodium oxide reduces the melting point.
Melting point: The temperature at which a
substance changes state from solid to liquid.

Types of glass
The most common type of glass, soda-lime glass, is
inexpensive, easy to melt and shape, and reasonably strong.
Fine glassware and decorative art glass, called crystal or
leaded glass, substitutes calcium oxide with lead oxide (PbO).
Ovenware and laboratory glassware contain compounds that
improve the ability of the glass to withstand a wide range of
temperatures needed for cooling or heating glassware in a
kitchen or lab.
Different colors of glass are produced by adding certain metal
oxides to the glass mixture.

Properties of glass
Altering the compounds used to make glass
changes the composition and produces different
types of glass.
Because glass is made of a variety of compounds,
it is possible to distinguish one type of glass from
another by examining the different physical
properties, such as density, refractive index, and
shatter patterns, and chemical properties.

Why is glass transparent? TED-Ed

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-is-glass-transp
arent-mark-miodownik

London Towers
glass bridge

Density
Each type of glass has a
density specific to that
glass.
Density (D) is
calculated by dividing
the mass (m) of a
substance by its volume
(V).
The formula for
calculating density is:
D=m/V

Type of Glass

Density (g/ml)

Bottle glass

2.50

Window glass

2.53

Lead crystal

2.98-3.01

Pyrex

2.27

Tempered (auto)

2.98

Flint

3.70

Crown

2.50

Calculating the Density of a piece of glass

The mass of a piece of glass (in grams) can be
found using a balance.
In order to determine the volume (in milliliters)
of water displaced by a piece of glass, fill a
graduated cylinder partway with water. Record
the volume. Next add your marble and record
the new volume. Then find the difference
between the 2 values.
Divide the mass (g) by the volume displaced
(mL) to find density.

Refraction
The change in the
direction of light as it
speeds up or slows down
when moving from one
medium into another.
The direction and angle
of change varies
depending on the
density of the two
mediums.

Refractive Index

Refractive Indexa tool used

to study how light bends as it
passes from one substance to
another
When a beam of light moves
from less dense medium (air)
into a more dense medium
(glass):
Its speed slows, and
Bends light toward the normal
line
Normal line is perpendicular to
the glass surface

Refractive index

When a beam of light moves

from a more dense medium
(water) into a less dense
medium (air):
Its speed increases
And bends light away

from the normal line

Application of refractive index to forensics

Investigators can use the refractive index of glass
fragments to determine if glass evidence at a
crime scene matches glass evidence found
elsewhere.
Two common methods used:
Submersion method
Becke lines

Submersion method
used when glass fragments
found at the crime scene are
small.
Place the glass fragment
into different liquids of
known refractive indexes
The glass fragment will
seem to disappear when
placed in a liquid of the
same refractive index.

Becke line
A halo-like effect that appears at the edges of a
glass fragment when the refractive index of the
glass and liquid are different.
It appears because the refracted light becomes
concentrated around the edges of the glass
fragment.
If the line is inside the glass perimeter, the glass

index is higher than the index of the liquid

If the line is outside the glass perimeter, the glass
index is lower

Becke line
1.
2.

Place the glass on a slide surrounded by a liquid medium of

known refractive index.
Place the slide on the microscope stage and focus the lens on the
glass.

. If the glass seems to disappear when focused, the glass and the surrounding
medium have the same refractive index.
. If the glass did not disappear, the surrounding medium and the glass have
different refractive indexes. In the next step, you will use the position of Becke
lines to estimate which medium, the glass or the surrounding liquid, has the
higher refractive index.

3.

Increase the distance between the stage and the lens. Look for
the appearance of a Becke line.

. If a Becke line appears inside the perimeter of the glass, then the glass has a
higher refractive index than the surrounding liquid.
. If a Becke line appears outside the perimeter of the glass, then the surrounding
liquid has a higher refractive index than the glass.

Fracture patterns
Being an amorphous solid, glass will not break
into regular pieces with straight line fractures
Fracture patterns provide clues about the
direction, rate, and sequence of the impacts
Radial fractures radiate from the center of impact.
Concentric fractures form rings around the center
of impact

Tension vs Compression
Tension: To pull or stretch.
Compression: To press together.
Torsion: To twist one end of an object with
respect to another.

Tension and compression in

glass
Glass will bend to accommodate stress to a
certain level and suddenly fail once its
threshold is met.
Impacted glass is compressed on the side it
is hit.
It will stretch on the opposite side of the
glass, and the tension there will radiate
breaks in the glass outward from the point
of impact.
Then fractures form in the shape of
concentric circles on the same side of the
impact.

Bullet Fractures

As a bullet passes through glass, it pushes a cone

shaped piece of glass out of the glass ahead of it
The exit side of the hole is larger than the entrance side
of the hole
Radiating fracture lines from a subsequent shot will
stop at the edge of the fracture lines already present in
the glass

Path of a Bullet Passing through

Window Glass

perpendicular
to the glass

shot from
the left

shot from
the right

The angles at which bullets enter window glass

help locate the position of the shooter
Bits of the glass can fly backward (backscatter),
creating trace evidence

Bullet proof glass

Analysis of fracture lines

Direction of force: when a projectile strikes
glass, it creates ridges called conchoidal lines.
These lines curve out and away from the point
of impact, and form a right angle on the side
opposite from the impact.
The lines occur along the inside edge of radial
fractures.

Sequence of force: the radial fractures of the

first impact extend completely, however,
subsequent impacts will have radial fractures
that stop once they come into contact with a
prior fracture.

Which impact happened first A or B?

Velocity

Star-like cracks can reveal the speed of a bullet

by Nipuna Mon May 06, 2013 4:53 am

PIECING together details of a car accident or crime scene could become a bit easier thanks to star-like
cracks in glassy substances. These characteristic patterns can reveal the speed of the objects that made
them.
It has long been known that different materials require different amounts of energy to crack . But until now
few studies have examined the patterns of cracks left behind to trace back details about the impact.
Nicolas Vandenberghe and colleagues at Aix-Marseille University in France used an air gun to fire small
metal cylinders at glass plates at increasingly higher speeds, reaching 432 kilometres per hour. A highspeed camera filmed each shot, and the team counted the radial cracks formed by the impact. "As surprising
as it might be, that had not been done before," says team member Emmanuel Villermaux.
The team found a unique relationship between the number of cracks and the projectile's
speed. They were able to use this to develop a simple equation that can tell how fast an object
was travelling, based on the type of material it hit (Physical Review Letters, doi.org/mdd).
Robert Ritchie, a materials scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, says the work
is a useful analysis. "For forensics, you could use this to find the energy of a bullet." The work could also
reveal how fast a car was moving just before an accident, by looking for cracks in the windshield created by
stones kicked up from the road.

Handling of Crime Scene Glass

Samples
1. Identify and photograph any glass samples before
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

moving them.
Collect the largest fragments that can be reasonably
collected.
Identify the outside and inside surface of any glass.
If multiple panes are involved, make a diagram.
Note trace evidence such as skin, hair, blood, or fibers.
Package all materials collected to maintain the chain of
custody.

In summary
Glass is an amorphous solid.
Glass can be analyzed for its density, refractive index, and
fracture patterns.
Density of glass = Mass (grams) divided by Volume (milliliters)
Refractive index is a measurement of how light bends, or
refracts, as it travels through a material.
Methods for measuring the refractive index include:
Snells law
Submersion method
Becke line method

Fracture patterns provide information about such things as the

direction, the rate, and the sequence of the impacts.

Any questions??