The temperature of a corpse is the main medical indicator in forensic medicine and forensics, which allows you to determine the time of death. After death, the temperature gradually decreases, becoming equal to the ambient temperature. Read about the measurement and factors for lowering body temperature in this article.
Corpse cooling period
Speaking about how the temperature of a corpse decreases, here experts distinguish three stages of cooling. What are they?
- At the first stage, the body temperature goes through a period of disordered cooling. This is a period of several hours after death.
- After the temperature of the corpse's body decreases, a stage of regular cooling passes - here the corpse cools down according to the laws of a mathematical equation. In time, this period takes from four to twelve hours.
- In the third period, the temperature of the corpse is equalized with the environment. Usually this period occurs after 20-36 hours after death. Upon completion of the third stage, body temperature no longer decreases.
Measuring body temperature
This is importantstep in determining the time of death. Methods for determining the temperature of a corpse can be very different - first of all, it is determined by palpation, probing open areas of the body, as well as under clothing, in the chest area, under the armpits and in the groin area. So, cooling to the touch in the area of the hand of the corpse will be noticeable already two hours after death, but the warmth under the clothes remains for about five or seven hours.
Further, the temperature of the corpse is measured using a thermometer - in this case, doctors can use a variety of types for accurate measurement. Speaking more specifically, they often use the following:
- Alcoholic.
- Electrical.
The alcohol thermometer is most often used to measure the body temperature of a corpse. They use graduations up to ten degrees and a scale from zero to plus forty-five. To determine the temperature of a corpse, measurements with this type of thermometer are carried out in the groin or in the armpits, or they are inserted into the rectum, this is how the rectal temperature is determined.
It is important to remember that the temperature is measured two or three times with an interval of an hour - this allows you to practically fix not just the temperature, but also the dynamics of the process of reducing important indicators, and then most accurately use them. Already after the temperature of the corpse reaches room temperature (if the body is stored at room temperature) - complete cooling occurs in a day.
External factors
The rate of change in body temperaturethe body is largely determined by both external and internal factors. It is to the first that experts attribute such moments:
- Indicators of the temperature background of the environment, how stable they are, what are their fluctuations.
- Directly important are the indicators of thermal conductivity of bodies, the thermal capacity of the surface with which the corpse is in direct contact. Simply put, they take into account where and on what the body lies.
- The indicators of air humidity are also important, as well as the movement and strength of air masses.
- The presence of clothing on the corpse, other items that isolate it from the external environment.
- The presence of infrared radiation fluxes in the external environment is also taken into account - whether it will be a heater, sunlight, and so on. These external factors can significantly affect body temperature indicators, leaving it unchanged or changing it in a significant way.
Internal factors affecting body temperature
In this case, the following moments are taken into account:
- This is directly the body temperature at the actual moment of death.
- The weight of the corpse is taken into account.
- Also be sure to take into account the degree of subcutaneous fat.
- It is also worth considering the abundance of blood loss.
All this leads to a sharp decrease in the temperature regime. If we talk about a good example of a change in rectal body temperature, taking into account the ambient temperatureplus eighteen with a well-developed layer of fat and muscle, you can imagine the following table.
| After death | Decreased rates | Normal performance | Increased performance |
| 1-3 hours | 0.75 | 0.55 | 0.45 |
| 4-6 hours | 1.45 | 1.10 | 0.90 |
| 7-9 hours | 1.30 | 1.00 | 0.80 |
| 10-12 o'clock | 0.90 | 0.80 | 0.75 |
| 12 or more hours | 0.75 | 0.55 | 0.75 |
Thus, understanding the indicators is not at all difficult.
