Crashes and collapses

Includes bibliographical references (p. 302-305) and index.

Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1: History And Guiding Principles Of Forensic Engineering Science -- Archimedes (287-212 BCE): Einstein and Edison in Ancient Greece -- Units systems and dimensions -- Richard B Feynman meets the Challenger commission -- Resolving legal disputes -- Mechanics of modern law -- Modern civil and criminal trials -- Confusion about verdicts -- Eyewitnesses and the harm that they can do -- 2: Accident Reconstruction: Getting Started -- Hit-and-run -- Perception-reaction time -- Placing the hit-and-run vehicle -- Back to basics -- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642): one of Newton's giants -- Dimensions and acceleration -- Velocity -- Mass -- Coefficient of friction -- Measuring the coefficient of friction -- Static versus sliding friction and antilock brake systems -- Summing up -- 3: Accident Reconstruction: Moving Into High Gear -- How to read equations -- Smart car mystery -- Total stations -- Fall formula -- More dimensions -- Applications of the fall formula -- More Newton's laws -- Newton's third law -- Conservation of momentum -- Energy and conservation of energy -- Work -- Revisiting the skid-to-a-stop formula -- Revisiting the smart car case -- Signature marks -- Electric-light filaments and what they record -- Black boxes and what they record -- 4: Speed From Critical-Speed Scuffs -- Inertial force: Linear effects -- Inertial forces: Circular effects -- Centripetal acceleration -- Confirmation of universal gravitation -- Critical-speed-scuff formula -- Applying the critical-speed formula -- Measuring the radius of curvature -- Key assumption revealed -- 5: Murder Poorly Disguised As an Accident -- Fire in the ditch -- Prejudice in forensic investigation -- Investigation -- Murder -- Vehicle acceleration -- Ignition tests -- Forensic reenactments -- Spark plugs and induction -- Second crash test -- Results and conclusions -- Limitations of conclusions -- 6: Subway Stop -- Man on the tracks -- Investigation -- Field of vision -- Conspicuity -- Stopping a train -- Test stops and fuzzy data -- Unfuzzing the data -- Precision, rounding, and truncating -- Time-distance analysis -- Operator's way out -- Concluding comments -- Candor in analysis -- 7: Grounding Of The Merchant Vessel Tamano -- Archimedes' equilibrium -- Pressure and hydrostatics -- Creating a water cushion -- Fuel delivery -- 8: Crane Collapse -- Crane collapses -- Force moments and stability -- Solution -- Hydraulics -- Workers' compensation -- 9: Scaffolding Collapse -- Accident -- Wrongful-death claim and response -- Facts -- Plaintiffs' burden -- Analysis -- Ways the wind can blow -- Putting in numbers -- Force of wind -- Lawyerly strategy and its deflection -- Looking at it from the other end -- Power -- What lifted it -- Seeing the cables as springs solves the problem -- Springs and the law of Hooke -- 10: Bringing It All Together -- World Trade Center collapse -- Collapse of Texas Tower number four -- Lessons too hard to learn -- March 2008 crane collapse -- Conclusion -- Glossary -- Further reading -- Index.

From the Publisher: Essentials of Forensic Science is a seven-volume set that explores a number of significant aspects of the field, from its inception to its application in the modern laboratory and courtroom. From its roots in the Middle Ages and farther back to ancient Greece, forensic science, past, present, and future, is provided an intriguing overview in this informative set.