I can sense Herlock Sholmes typing away on his keyboard in his next answer to me. Will it be more accusations of me misinforming and twisting, being unable to see sense and such things? Or will he actually admit that he has gotten things wrong?
Who knows?
At any rate, let´s give him a little something to chew on. Remember how he wanted to convey a picture of how people "may" get cold in 10-20 minutes, while all the while, that information only touched on the skin, which is insulated from the warm body core underneath?
I just found an interesting fact, when checking a few things. I took a deeper look and could confirm what I had learnt, so let's put it out here now. Its from the link http://healthdrip.com/algor-mortis/
but as I said, I noted the same thing on other links. Its about the so called postmortem temperature plateau, and I have highlighted the most important passage.
"The Algor Mortis (chill of death or cooling of dead body) is a complex process, which does not occur at the same rate throughout the body. After stoppage of circulation, convectional transport of heat inside the body stops.
The postmortem rate of heat production by anaerobic glycolysis is very low. With the start of Algor Mortis, a temperature gradient develops from the surface to the core of any part of the body.
Exchange of heat between the core and surface of the body occurs only by conduction. At first heat is lost from superficial layers of the body only. Due to the low velocity of heat transport inside the body, it takes some time for heat to be conducted from the deeper layers to the more superficial layers, until finally, the temperature gradient reaches the core.
Conductive heat exchange occurs due to the temperature difference between the body and surroundings, e.g. clothing, covering, air, water, etc. At non-contact areas heat exchange occurs by convectional mechanism, which exceeds that of contact surface. Heat exchange by radiation is extensive for the first hour, but decreases later, depending on the rapid decrease in skin temperature.
Only a small fraction of heat is lost by evaporation of fluid from the skin. For about half to one hour after death, the rectal temperature falls little or not at all. (postmortem temperature plateau).
This is followed by a linear rate of cooling (between 0.5 to 1°C per hour) for the next 12 to 16 hours. Then the cooling rate is relatively uniform in its slope. Then it gradually becomes slower, and when the temperature is within about 4°C of the environment, rate of Algor Mortis cooling becomes very slow."
This seems to me to explain why Kate Eddowes was "quite warm" to the touch some 45 minutes after her death. Apparently, the core of the body does not start cooling off until after half an hour to one hour after death.
Now, if Chapman had only been dead for an hour or a little less, where does that put us?
This is not going to plan for Herlock, methinks. Let's wait and see - maybe that plateau only affects the right side of the body? Or maybe some people will skip over the plateau, meaning that Chapman - once again - may have been one of the chosen few?
Who knows?
At any rate, let´s give him a little something to chew on. Remember how he wanted to convey a picture of how people "may" get cold in 10-20 minutes, while all the while, that information only touched on the skin, which is insulated from the warm body core underneath?
I just found an interesting fact, when checking a few things. I took a deeper look and could confirm what I had learnt, so let's put it out here now. Its from the link http://healthdrip.com/algor-mortis/
but as I said, I noted the same thing on other links. Its about the so called postmortem temperature plateau, and I have highlighted the most important passage.
"The Algor Mortis (chill of death or cooling of dead body) is a complex process, which does not occur at the same rate throughout the body. After stoppage of circulation, convectional transport of heat inside the body stops.
The postmortem rate of heat production by anaerobic glycolysis is very low. With the start of Algor Mortis, a temperature gradient develops from the surface to the core of any part of the body.
Exchange of heat between the core and surface of the body occurs only by conduction. At first heat is lost from superficial layers of the body only. Due to the low velocity of heat transport inside the body, it takes some time for heat to be conducted from the deeper layers to the more superficial layers, until finally, the temperature gradient reaches the core.
Conductive heat exchange occurs due to the temperature difference between the body and surroundings, e.g. clothing, covering, air, water, etc. At non-contact areas heat exchange occurs by convectional mechanism, which exceeds that of contact surface. Heat exchange by radiation is extensive for the first hour, but decreases later, depending on the rapid decrease in skin temperature.
Only a small fraction of heat is lost by evaporation of fluid from the skin. For about half to one hour after death, the rectal temperature falls little or not at all. (postmortem temperature plateau).
This is followed by a linear rate of cooling (between 0.5 to 1°C per hour) for the next 12 to 16 hours. Then the cooling rate is relatively uniform in its slope. Then it gradually becomes slower, and when the temperature is within about 4°C of the environment, rate of Algor Mortis cooling becomes very slow."
This seems to me to explain why Kate Eddowes was "quite warm" to the touch some 45 minutes after her death. Apparently, the core of the body does not start cooling off until after half an hour to one hour after death.
Now, if Chapman had only been dead for an hour or a little less, where does that put us?
This is not going to plan for Herlock, methinks. Let's wait and see - maybe that plateau only affects the right side of the body? Or maybe some people will skip over the plateau, meaning that Chapman - once again - may have been one of the chosen few?
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