Blood and Blood Spatter Study Guide
1. Identify the “inventor”of ABO blood typing.
2. Identify the blood component pertinent to blood identification.
3. List the antigens that are tested for in routine blood banking.
4. Define antigen, antibody, and agglutination.
5. Know that for every antigen there is a specific antibody.
6. Differentiate between Type A, Type B, Type AB, and Type O blood.
7. Know who can donate to whom and who can receive what blood from whom.
8. Know the percentages of the blood types in the United States
1. Distinguish between spikes and satellites on blood spatter.
2. Distinguish between blood spatter based upon blood dropping onto a smooth surface and a rough or
textured
surface.
3. Distinguish between the terms cohesion and adhesion.
4. Using the terms cohesion and gravity, explain why a drop of blood will be circular in appearance as it
drops.
5. Using the terms cohesion and surface tension, explain why blood will appear as a rounded surface
when it lands
on flat surface.
6. Using the terms momentum and cohesion, explain why most of the blood will remain as a drop when
it strikes a
surface, but some of the blood will continue to move forming an elongated tail.
7. Given a series of blood spatter stains; be able to determine the direction that the blood was moving.
Include in
your answer the terms satellites and spikes.
8. Explain why blood spatter is considered circumstantial evidence.
9. Describe the difference between the following terms and what event could cause each:
a. Cast off blood patterns.
b. Transfer blood patterns.
c. Projected blood patterns.
10. Explain the blood spatter pattern generated from a damaged artery. (arterial gush) Include in your
answer the
following:
a. The over-all pattern of the blood spray
b. The reason for the pattern showing high points and low points.
11. Explain why and how blood spatter looks different when dropped from a height of 30 cm compared
to blood
dropped from a height of 100 cm.
12. Define the term terminal velocity.
13. Distinguish a difference between blood spatter stains if the source of the blood was coming from a
high velocity
source such as a gun versus the source of blood generated from a blow on the head.
14. Explain how to draw lines of convergence from several drops of blood in order to determine the area
of
convergence or source of blood by answering the following:
a. How to determine the direction or movement of the blood – Where to begin drawing your line in
reference to the main blood droplet and the satellite blood drops.
b. How should the line be drawn through the main droplet of bloodstain?
c. How to determine the point of convergence using these lines of convergence.
d. How to draw a circle around the point of convergence.
15. Define angle of impact for blood spatter
16. Explain how to determine if a blood drop was dropped straight down based upon the shape of the
drop at
impact.
17. Explain what happens to the shape of a blood spatter as you move from a 10-degree impact angle to
a 60-
degree impact angle.
18. Explain how to calculate the impact angle from a single droplet of blood. Include in your answer:
What is measured?
19. Describe how to read a measurement using a small caliper?
20. Explain what formula is used to determine the angle of impact
21. Given a several drops of blood, describe how to be able to analyze the crime scene by conducting a
blood
spatter analysis:
a. Determine the direction of motion of the blood
b. Determine angle of impact for several drops of blood
c. Determine the area of convergence of the blood droplets
d. Calculate the point of origin for the blood droplets.
22. Use blood spatter analysis to try to recreate the events of the crime.
23. How could luminol be important with blood spatter evidence?
From a blood spatter pattern, be able to explain each of the following:
24. Distinguish between the following terms:
a. Lines of convergence
b. Point of convergence
c. Point of origin
25. Explain how to determine if a suspect “story” agrees with the story presented by the blood spatte
