NCJ Number
195919
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 47 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2002 Pages: 466-470
Date Published
2002
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This paper describes two experiments that were conducted to understand the phenomenon of so-called “spontaneous human combustion.”
Abstract
Spontaneous human combustion involves two circumstances that have been previously misunderstood: (1) the nearly complete incineration of the human bone, and (2) the failure of the fire to spread to nearby combustible items. The author reports on two experiments designed to explain these circumstances. In the first experiment, the author was concerned with finding out whether bone density was a factor of bone incineration. Bones of differing densities were burned to answer this question. The results of this experiment indicate that osteoporotic bones had greater thermal damage than their healthy counterparts. In the second experiment, the author sought to obtain information concerning the combustibility of human tissues in order to explain why these fires do not spread to nearby combustible objects. An amputated leg was set on fire to determine the effect of heat combustion. The results of this study indicate that the human body is somewhat combustible, especially body fat. The author explains that the results of both studies lend support to the “wick effect” theory, which explains that the human body burns at a very low heat, but when aided by cotton clothing as a “wick,” it succeeds in consuming a significant amount of mass. 31 References