Criminalistics is an area that I particularly liked for a long time, so as a lawyer I did my studies related to this field. Although it is a long issue, this time I outline in a summarized way how ballistics works, and in future post I will develop it in a more exhaustive way.
Criminal acts are violent phenomena that are increasingly observed in our society, these illegal behaviors, in most cases are carried out through the use of mechanical agents such as firearms, that is why for its comprehensive study the aid of ballistics is necessary, which is a very important ramification of criminology.
Ballistics is a branch of applied mechanics that studies the movement and characteristics of projectile behavior and the phenomena that accompany it. Therefore the ballistics to study it must know, which has a classification and in turn a subclassification that will help the best understanding of all the kinematics that triggers the use of a firearm.
The main thing in the study of ballistics, is the physical and chemical analysis of projectiles, firearms and their development at the time of firing, as well as the substances, temperatures, forces, rotations and behavior of the projectiles in different scenarios.
Internal ballistics.
It studies the way in which the energy at rest contained in the propellant is released and converted into kinetic energy which causes the projectile to be expelled. That is to say that when the percussion needle makes contact with the ass of the cartridge the fulminant is activated and generates a combustion. What makes the heat generated by the gases generated by the decomposition of the gunpowder, which causes the pressure generated in the chamber of the weapon to detach the projectile and push it towards the muzzle. All this happens inside the weapon.
External ballistics.
It is responsible for studying the trajectory that projectiles follow after leaving the barrel of the weapon until it hits another material. It is necessary to use several factors to study it, such as the gravity force of the earth, the resistance of the air, and the rotation of the projectile inside the weapon.
The ballistics of effect or Terminal ballistics.
Is responsible for the action and the consequence of a projectile during and after it hits a body or object. This type is used less, because not all possess the necessary instruments to study this type of ballistics.
The comparative ballistics.
It is carried out inside a laboratory to know the physical state of the projectiles, basing its study on the search, detection, and comparison of each one of the particularities left by the firearm in the shell and projectile, since the marks The weapons left on the projectile will always be different, even though the weapons are of the same brand and caliber.
Ballistics of trajectory.
It is responsible for the graphic reconstruction of the trajectory of the projectile that impacted on a body, the position of the victim and the victimizer, the angle at which the weapon was fired, as well as the total reconstruction of the crime scene.
Identifying ballistics.
It studies the existing relationship between the bullets and bullets found as signs in a scene, and to be able to determine the concordance with the percussion firearm.
