Temporary cavity is seen in gun shot injury with?
ANSWER: (A) High velocityREF: Review of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology By Gautam Biswas 2nd edpage 189, Forensic Medicine: Clinical and Pathological Aspects edited by Jason Payne- James, Anthony Busuttil, William S. Smock page 155As a bullet projectile moves through a body, it creates because of its intrinsic energy a temporary (cylindrical) cavity along its tract that quickly collapse upon itself within milliseconds of its formation. The cavity created is many times larger than the diameter of the bullet with maximum point of expansion occurring at the point where the bullet is traveling sideways (greatest degree of jaw).Size and configuration of temporary cavity is affected by:Kinetic energy lost by bulletType of tissue along the tract (elastic vs non elastic eg bone)Amount of energy transferred is given by theformulaKE = 1/2 MV2It shows that velocity rather than weight plays a greater role in determining the kinetic energy possessed by the bullet.Bullets fired from handguns are propelled by low velocity, have 1owt energy (50-100 J) and result in low energy transfer wounds characterized by injuries confined to wound tractRifle bullets are high velocity high energy (2000-3000 J) have potential to cause high energy transfer wounds producing temporary cavity
High velocity
Low velocity
High weight bullet
Low weight bullet
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