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October, 19661 SHORT PAPERS 669

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Determination of Specific Gravity of Glass Particles by a Density

Gradient Method
BY S. S. KIND AND L. SUMMERSCALES
(Home Office Forensic Science Laboratory, Haddon Lodge, 32 Rutland Drive, Harrogate, Yorkshire)

THEtraditional method of comparing the specific gravities of two glass particles in forensic science
is to immerse them in a two-component liquid of uniform specific gravity and add the lighter
or denser component until the two fragments suspend together, or until one floats and the
other sinks.
The same effect can be brought about by uniformly heating or cooling the entire bulk of the
liquid. However, the suspension of glass particles in a uniform liquid tends to be an unstable
equilibrium and, in practice, the glass particles will always end by floating or sinking, although
the procedure will take considerable time.
These techniques are capable of a high degree of accuracy, but they require a good deal of
attention. Proposals have been made for the preparation of density gradients where the glass
particles can be compared with each other and with coloured glasses of known specific gravity
by noting the level to which a piece of glass sinks in a suitable specific gravity gradient. Such
density gradient tubes can be prepared by layering mixtures of liquids of different specific gravities
in a long vertically clamped tube.l Density gradients of this kind are tedious to prepare and
suffer from the disadvantage that diffusion gradually destroys the gradient.
We have lately used a simple method of preparing stable density gradients simply by
irradiating a uniform column of liquid from the top with a tungsten filament lamp. A similar
but much more complicated method has recently been proposed by Green and Burd.2

EXPERIMENTAL
The apparatus and materials used consist of a 10-ml cylindrical measure containing a mixture
of 85 per cent. bromoform and 15 per cent. benzyl alcohol, warmed from the top by a 100-watt
bulb in an Anglepoise lamp. The system, although crude, is capable of swiftIy generating a stable
density gradient, and if the initial specific gravity is adjusted by trial and error to a point a t
which the denser glass particle under examination just floats, then merely by switching on the
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670 SHORT PAPERS [Analyst, Vol. 91

lamp the particles will migrate downwards to take up positions that are related vertically to their
specific gravities a t the temperature of the particular layer.
As expected, the gradient thus generated is not a linear one owing to the fact that the rise
in temperature a t any layer is due to the amount of heat absorbed a t that layer, which follows a
logarithmic rule. Thus, near the top where a steep gradient persists, glasses of different specific
gravities will appear to suspend together, whereas further down the tube the gradient becomes
sufficiently shallow for very slight differences in specific gravities to be detected.
If coloured glasses of known specific gravities are added to the tube, then the specific gravity
Published on 01 January 1966. Downloaded by University of Bath on 22/10/2014 12:29:48.

of an unknown sample suspended a t the same time can be read off by interpolation. The positioning
of the glass particles in the gradient can be varied by increasing or decreasing the distance of the
light from the liquid surface. Distillation and concomitant change in specific gravity is not a
problem because of the relatively non-volatile nature of the component liquids.

Fig. 1. Positions of glass fragments in

heat generated density gradient. Ordinate
numbered in l-ml graduation marks of a
10-ml cylindrical measure

Fig. 1 shows a logarithmic plot of the positions of four marker samples of known specific
gravities in one particular experiment a t different time intervals. The shallower sloping curves
relate to readings that were noted later than those for the steepest slope.
By using a 100-watt bulb and a 10-cylindrical measure (about 8 mm per ml) the average
variation in specific gravity gradient can be 0-25 per cm for a position 1 mm below the surface
to 0.0025 per cm a t 6cm below the surface.
The advantages of preparing a stable density gradient by this method are-
(i) The gradient can be prepared when required merely by throwing a switch.
(ii) No careful watching for a compensation point is required.
(iii) A disturbed gradient, e.g., by removal of a glass particle, is automatically restored to
a uniform one.
(iv) The glass particles can be positioned on a steep or shallow part of the gradient merely by
changing the position of the lamp.
On switching off the lamp, the glass particles migrate upwards and the gradient changes to
a more linear one. A more linear gradient can also be generated by a slower heating process.
We have used the above system in case examinations over the past 18 months and have found
it to be of great value, especially in the preliminary screening of glass particles, in enabling us
to decide whether one or more types of glass are present in a sample, and to provide a swift
method for comparing control and crime glass particles.
REFERENCES
1. Kirk, P. L., Density and Refractive Index: Their Application in Criminal Identification, C. C.
Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1951.
2. Green, R. S., and Burd, D. Q., J . Foren. Sci., 1965, 10, 52.
Received April 22924 1966