algor mortis
American Heritage Dictionary:
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al·gor mor·tis
(ăl'gər môr'tĭs) 
n.
The cooling of the body that follows death.
n.
The cooling of the body that follows death.
[Latin algor, coolness + Latin mortis, genitive of mors, death.]
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary:
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al·gor mor·tis
(ăl'gər môr'tĭs)
n.
n.
The cooling of the body that follows death.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Algor mortis
| Stages of death |
|---|
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Pallor mortis |
Algor mortis (Latin: algor—coldness; mortis—of death) is the reduction in body temperature following death. This is generally a steady decline until matching ambient temperature, although external factors can have a significant influence.
A measured rectal temperature can give some indication of the time of death. Although the heat conduction which leads to body cooling follows an exponential decay curve, it can be approximated as a linear process: 2° Celsius during the first hour and 1° Celsius per hour until the body nears ambient temperature.
The Glaister equation[1][2] estimates the hours elapsed since death as a linear function of the rectal temperature:
As decomposition occurs the internal body temperature tends to rise again.
References
- ^ http://www.fmap.archives.gla.ac.uk/DC403/DC403_page.htm
- ^ Guharaj, P. V. (2003). "Cooling of the body (algor mortis}". Forensic Medicine (2nd ed.). Hyderabad: Longman Orient. pp. 61-62. http://books.google.com/books?isbn=8125024883.
- Saferstein, Richard (2004). Criminalistics An Introduction to Forensic Science (8th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-113706-9.
- Karen T. Taylor, "Forensic art and illustration", CRC Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8493-8118-5, p. 308
- Robert G. Mayer, "Embalming: history, theory, and practice", McGraw-Hill Professional, 2005, ISBN 0-07-143950-1, p. 106
- Calixto Machado, "Brain death: a reappraisal", Springer, 2007, ISBN 0-387-38975-X, pp. 73-74
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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