The Capability of Acuminate Ice-generated Puncture Lethality and Depth in Mammalian Torso

Authors

  • Aidan Holman Texas A&M University

Abstract

During certain months of the year and depending on where we are in the world, we can walk outside and witness icicles forming on overhangs of houses. We might even witness a few children playing with these icicles, using them as weapons to “save a princess” by “slaying a dragon”. Besides jokes and the fantasies of children like the one aforementioned, the icicle is not looked at as something with the possibility of causing actual, fatal injury. In this experiment, we explore that possibility to its necessary extent. We evaluate the efficiency of spikes of ice when used to stab a meat body, observing wound depths and durability of the ice during and before action. We found that the spikes of ice were able to pierce meat comparable to the human abdomen with enough depth to compromise any of the vital organs in that region, including the liver. But otherwise, the chest region proved almost impenetrable to the spikes of ice, leaving the heart and other major arteries surrounding it seemingly unreachable. Overall, this experiment confirmed the capability of ice, when acuminated, to be a lethal instrument.

Author Biography

Aidan Holman, Texas A&M University

Full-time sophomore at Texas A&M University

Forensics and Investigative Sciences - Science Emphasis

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Published

2022-06-03