Forensic Examination of Glass

Goals in examining glass evidence:

Determine the ____________________________
Determine _______________________________
Use _____________________________________
________________ the glass to a source
Compare physical and chemical characteristics:
_______________________: surface wear,
striations from manufacturing, thickness,
surface film or dirt, hardness, density
__________________: color and refractive index
_________________: additives or trace elements

What is Glass?
Fusion of ________ (SiO2), __________(Na2CO3) &
_________ (CaO) that produces a transparent solid
when cooled.
An extended, 3D network of atoms which lacks the
repeated, orderly arrangement typical of crystalline
materials.

_______________ properties: hard, elastic, brittle,

non-conductor of electricity, softening point,
density, refractive index, etc.

What Types of Glass Are There?

____________: made by a float glass process;
molten glass is floated on a pool of tin while
cooling. Commonly found in doors and windows.
_____________________: used in windshields,
two sheets of glass with plastic between them.

__________________________: used in car side

windows and designed to break into tiny pieces;
potassium (K) replaces sodium (Na) on the
surface.

What Types of Glass Are There?

____________________: most common type, made
from silica (SiO2), soda (Na2CO3) and lime (CaO).
__________________________: 5% borax (Na2B4O7)
is added to resist breaking when heated or cooled.

____________________: metal oxides or colloidal

iron (Fe) & sulfur (S) are added to change its color.
_________: Pb increases refractive index & density

How Does Glass Break?

Each force causes a deformation that may leave a
visible mark or fracture the glass. This can be used
to determine the direction and amount of force.
Initially, glass acts initially as an _______________
surface and bends away when a force is applied.

How Does Glass Break?

__________ cracks form first and are propagated

in short segments on the side opposite the force.
____________ cracks come later from continued
pressure on the same side as the force applied.

How Does Glass Break?

Edges of broken pieces of glass will show
__________ (stress) marks.
In a radial crack, the rib marks are
perpendicular to unloaded side and
parallel to loaded side. The arrow shows
the side that received the impact.
3R rule:
R____ cracks give rib marks that make
R______ angles on the
R______ side from where the force was
applied

Exceptions to the Three R Rule

Tempered glass
_________ without forming ridges
Very small windows held tightly in frame
cant bend or bulge appreciably
Windows broken by ___________________
no point of impact
curved, ________ edges at break points

Types of Fractures by Projectiles

Bullets are a projectile force (load) that can pass
through glass.
__________________ is the entrance side;
unloaded side is the exit side.
_______________________ projectiles: rib marks
may indicate where breaking force was applied
As the bullets _______ increases, the central hole
becomes smaller, cracking patterns become
simpler, and the exit hole becomes _________
than the entrance hole.

Fractures by Projectiles
Which side was the bullet fired from?
________ (unloaded)
side is ________ than
entry (load) side.
Stress lines on the glass edge of _________ cracks
form a right angle on the reverse side from the force.
Stress lines on the glass edge of ___________ cracks
form a right angle on the same side from the force.

Which Bullet Hole Was First?

The sequence of impacts can be determined since
crack propagation is stopped by earlier cracks.

In the figures above, which impact occurred first?

Putting it Back Together Again?

Examiners can fit together two or more pieces of
glass that were broken from the _________ object.
Because glass is __________________, no two
glass objects will break the same way.

Glass Transfer Evidence

When broken, glass flies ___________
from all parts of the object where cracks
appear not just from point of impact.
This creates a shower of ________ glass
particles and a transfer of evidence.
__________________________depends
finding and measuring properties that
will associate one glass fragment with
another while eliminating other sources.

Optical Properties of Glass

Make side-by-side comparisons using similarsized fragments.
Place samples on a ________ surface using
____________ light.

Use both ______________ and _____________

light to determine the glasss color.
Visual color analysis is very ______________.
_________ and ____________ can be almost
impossible to extract.

Nonoptical Physical Properties of

Glass
__________________________________
Rollers leave parallel ream marks on sheet glass
Markings may indicate the glasss orientation
when pieces are ______________
Surface scratches, etchings, and other markings
may also be used to individualize evidence

______________________
Hardness=5-6 on _____ scale; use a scratch test.
Determinations of curvature can distinguish flat
glass from container, decorative, or ophthalmic.

Why Measure Density?

Can be used as a __________ ___________ with
large numbers of fragments.
Useful in identifying ____________ sources present
in the known and/or questioned samples.
It is _______________ and an ___________ property
(not dependant on sample mass).

Need to measure very precisely in parts per

_______________________________.

Glass Density
Density can be measured by:
directly determining ______ and
_______ (usually by displacement)
comparison by ____________
comparison using a density gradient
column
Density gradient column method:
Fragments of different densities
settle at different ___________ in the
column
Technique is not accurate for
fragments that are ____________

Density by the Flotation Method

A glass particle is immersed in a liquid. The density
of the liquid is adjusted by the addition of ________
___________________________ until the glass chip
remains _______________.
At this point, the glass will have the ______ density
as the liquid medium and can be compared to other
relevant pieces of glass which will remain
__________________________.

Why Measure Refractive Index?

Refractive index: ratio of the velocity of light in a
__________ to the velocity of light in any other
_______________.
For example, at 25oC the refractive index of water is
1.333. This means that light travels 1.333 times
faster in a vacuum than it does in water.
Like density, refractive index is an ______________
property but it can be measured very precisely
(0.0002) and does not ____________ the sample.
Refractive index of glass varies with small changes
in composition or by how it is manufactured.

Snells Law
N=1.52

N=1.33

The ________ the n, the _________ the light bends

Chemical Analysis of Glass

___________________
Under UV radiation, many glasses exhibit
fluorescence (glow)
Caused by heavy metals (including tin) from
float process or organic coatings

____________________________________________
___________________________
Can determine many elements simultaneously
Surfaces of samples (>50 mg) can be analyzed
___________________________________________
You must first know which elements are present
Can analyze ppm levels of elements present

The Wave of the Future: _____________

Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass
Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)
Laser burns off a microscopic sample
Elements are ionized by plasma
Detects 46 trace elements and their isotopes
simultaneously in glass at < 1 ppb