Preface

Over the years I have been enjoying the delights of CSI, NCIS and similar ‘forensic’ TV shows. Apart
from their blatant tendency to give the ‘mass-spec’ far too much air-time, and treat it like the go to solution
especially in CSI, I have especially been intrigued how the medical examiners are always the point of focus
when some one begs the question of time of death.

Even though I have modelled many lumped capacitance systems, and even simulated them in SIMULINK,
I did not realise the solution to such a problem was a direct application of Newton’s Law of Cooling - as
I simply never gave this question much thought before. In particular, I find the analytic solution of the
first-order ODE quite an elegant solution to this problem, especially since it instantly shows the result is
that of a decaying exponential function - as one would expect it to be.

A computational approach to the solution is easily obtained by solving the ODE by using Euler’s Method.
This task is simply achieved by approximating the derivative with the finite-forward difference, where
0 f (x + h) − f (x)
f (x) = limh→0 , thereby obtaining a recursive computational algorithm.
h
— Michael de Silva, October 2009

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1 Finding the Time of Death of a John Doe

Newton’s Law of Cooling: The rate at which the temperature T (t) changes in a cooling body is
directly proportional to the temperature difference between the body and the constant temperature
Ts , of the surrounding medium.

Newton’s Law of Cooling is modelled as a first-order initial-value problem,


 dT
= k (T − Ts )
dt (1)
T (0) = T
0

where T0 is the initial temperature of the body and k is the constant of proportionality.

If Ts is constant, by separating variables,

 
1
dT = k dt (2)
T − Ts

Integrating both sides,

Z   Z
1
dT = k dt
T − Ts
ln (T − Ts ) = kt + C
(3)
T − Ts = ekt+C
T (t) = Ts + Cekt

Applying the initial condition,

T (0) = Ts + Ce0 → C = T0 − Ts (4)

1
 Michael M. Wijetunge de Silva
MSc (Dist), BEng (Hons), MIEEE, AMIMechE(UK)
email: [email protected] • blog: bsodmike.com • résumé: mwdesilva.com

Hence,

T (t) = Ts + (T0 − Ts ) ekt (5)

If k < 0, limt→∞ ekt = 0. Therefore, limt→∞ T (t) = Ts , and the temperature of the body approaches that
of its surroundings.

Example: At 9 am on October 19, 2009 a body was found in room 327 at the University Center. The
room is kept at a constant temperature of 72◦ F. The medical examiner was called and he arrived in
eight minutes. The first thing he did was to take the temperature of the body. It was 83◦ F. Thirty
minutes later the temperature of the body was taken again and it was now 78◦ F. Help the police by
telling them when the person was murdered.

Solution:

The initial condition is taken such that T0 = 83 and Ts = 72 at 9:08 am. Substituting these values into
Equation (5), we obtain T (t) = 72 + (83 − 72) ekt = 72 + 11ekt .

At 09:38 when the medical examiner took the bodies temperature T (30) = 78 and Ts = 72. Substitution,
once again yields 78 = 72 + (11) e30k . Solving for k, the constant of proportionality,

 
6
ln
11 (6)
k= = −0.0202
30

Substituting k into Equation (5) yields T (t) = 72 + (11) e−0.0202t . This equation will take the form of
exponential decay due to its negative exponent,

Since the medical examiner wishes to know the time of death, a solution for t is found by setting the
temperature of the body at 98.6◦ F, normal body temperature. Solving 98.6 = 72 + (11) e−0.0202t for t,

   
26.6 −0.0202t 11
=e → ln = 0.0202t
11 26.6
(7)
 
11
ln
26.6
t= = −43.7
0.0202

Subtracting 43 minutes from 09:08 am gives the time of death as 08:25 am.

2
Integrating the first-order linear differential equation resulted in a linear equation in Equation (3),

ln (T − Ts ) = kt + C (8)

It is clear the above is comparable to y = mx + c. Considering T (0) = T0 ,

ln (98.6 − 72) = k(0) + C → C = ln (26.6) (9)

Since T (8) = 83 and T (38) = 78, we obtain two linear equations from Equation (8) where t is number of
minutes between death and 09:08 am and the other is the number of minutes between death and 09:38 am,
(i) ln(11) = kt + ln (26.6) and (ii) ln(6) = k(t + 30) + ln (26.6).

Solving for k with (i),

   
1 11
ln(11) = kt + ln (26.6) → k = ln (10)
t 26.6

Substituting this result,

   
1 11
ln(6) = ln (t + 30) + ln (26.6)
t 26.6
     
11 30 11
ln(6) = ln + ln + ln (26.6)
26.6 t 26.6
       
6 11 30 11
ln = ln + ln
26.6 26.6 t 26.6
 
6
      (11)
 26.6  6 30 11
ln  
  = ln
 = ln
11  11 t 26.6
26.6
 
11
ln · 30
26.6
t=   = 43.7
6
ln
11

Confirming the result obtained previously, the time of death is 43 minutes before 09:08 am, hence, 08:25
am.