Question

The coroner arrives at the scene of a murder at 11 p.m. She takes the temperature of the body and finds it to be 81.7°F. She waits 1 hour, takes the temperature again, and finds it to be 80.2°F. She notes that the room temperature is 67°F. When was the murder committed?

Answer 1

11:45 AM

Explanation:

We have that in one hour the body temperature decreased

went down in

81.7 - 80.2 = 1.2

i.e. 1.2 degrees.

Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees.

The difference between normal and 11 pm is 98.6-81.7 = 16.9

i.e. 16.9 degrees

now to know how much it decreases every hour:

16.9/ 1.5 = 11.26, that is 11 hours and 15 minutes (1/4 of an hour)

If that was 11:00 PM - 11:15 minutes, the murder was at 11:45 AM