{"id":5255,"date":"2014-11-12T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T15:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=5255"},"modified":"2014-11-06T21:12:01","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T03:12:01","slug":"morbid-fact-du-jour-for-november-12-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=5255","title":{"rendered":"Morbid Fact Du Jour for November 12, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n

Today’s Propulsive Yet Truly Morbid Fact!<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n
Ballistics, in criminal investigation, is the study of firearms and bullets.\u00a0 Firearms have been with us for several centuries – the first handguns were used by Arabs around A.D. 1200 – and as early as the 16th century, engineers realized that a spiral groove etched into the gun barrel would impart a spin to the projectile, thus making its flight more stable and improving its aim.\u00a0 It is the groove, or rifling, that leaves the distinctive marks known as striations on the bullet and that forms the bedrock of modern ballistics study.<\/p>\n

The barrel is not alone in leaving identifiable traces on a cartridge; other gun components may also leave marks.\u00a0 When fired, the bullet is driven forward through the barrel; simultaneously, its shell casing hurtles back against the breech face.\u00a0 Any imperfection on that breech face impresses itself on the case head.\u00a0 The firing pin, the extractor and the ejector post may each etch marks on the head or shell casing.
\nThe modern cartridge was invented in France in 1835 and consists of a casing with a soft metal cap holding the primer charge.\u00a0 When struck by the gun’s firing pin, the primer ignites the main propellant charge, expelling the bullet from the gun and leaving the case behind.\u00a0 With the invention of smokeless powder at the beginning of the 20th century came the need for a stronger bullet.\u00a0 The new powder’s greater propellant velocity meant that earlier lead bullets were too soft to be gripped by the rifling in the barrel and tended to get stripped, fouling the barrel.\u00a0 This led to the introduction of the metal-jacketed bullet, usually made of cupronickel.<\/p>\n

Whereas the old black powder left distinctive marks on the hands of the firer and around the wound (if fired within a close enough range), modern smokeless powder leaves traces that can be detected only through chemical testing.\u00a0 At one time, suspects’ hands were examined to see if they had fired a weapon recently.\u00a0 The test was designed to detect the presence of nitrates, but because of the prevalence of nitrates in so many innocuous household products, this practice has largely been abandoned.<\/p>\n

Culled from: The Casebook of Forensic Detection<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n

Grim Chicagoland!<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
I visited and photographed the site of another Chicagoland tragedy recently: the Great Naperville Train Disaster site. \u00a0Here’s a look back at the disaster through the Chicago Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Great Naperville Train Disaster<\/a><\/p>\n

Special thanks to my friend Erik <\/strong>for taking me to the location.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n

Ether Artifacts!<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
On the November 5 MFDJ, I featured the Ether Fountain in Boston. \u00a0This prompted Jack<\/strong>to send a couple pics of ether collectibles from his personal hazmat and toxic waste collection. \u00a0(And who doesn’t have one of those?) \u00a0Thanks, Jack<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you have anything you’d like to share on the newsletter, don’t hesitate to send it my way<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s Propulsive Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Ballistics, in criminal investigation, is the study of firearms and bullets.\u00a0 Firearms have been with us for several centuries – the first handguns were used by Arabs around A.D. 1200 – and as early as the 16th century, engineers realized that a spiral groove etched into the gun barrel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chicago","category-facts","category-sundry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5256,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255\/revisions\/5256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}