Chapter 18

Question 1

Bit

Answer 1

the smallest piece of digital data, either a “1” or a “0”.

Question 2

Skid

Answer 2

A skid occurs when the tires of a vehicle stop rotating (or rotate very slowly) while the car continues to move forward.

Question 3

Kinetic energy

Answer 3

The energy associated with the motion of an object and determined by the expression KE = ½ mv2

Question 4

Dynamic loads

Answer 4

Combined weight imposed upon a structure that may vary greatly over time. Also called live loads.

Question 5

Identification analysis

Answer 5

Method for identifying the relevant features of a piece of evidence with as much certainty as possible, leading to an unambiguous identification of the material.

Question 6

Inelastic collision

Answer 6

a collision were some or all of the kinetic is converted into other forms of energy, such as work or thermal energy.

Question 7

Fatigue

Answer 7

A cumulative and progressive process that results in eventual damage to building materials, often through repetition of certain types of movements or pressures.

Question 8

Forensic engineering

Answer 8

The field dealing with the legal investigation of how materials, processes, structures and objects fail in their intended function. The field also informs legal proceedings regarding accident reconstruction, tracking cyber-crime, and related functions.

Question 9

Elastic Collision

Answer 9

a collision where the amount of kinetic energy is the same before and after the collision.

Question 10

Gravitational acceleration (g)

Answer 10

a constant on Earth indicating how fast an object is accelerated by gravity.

Question 11

Factor of safety (FS)

Answer 11

The ability of a structure to hold loads beyond those anticipated from the total of static and dynamic loads.

Question 12

Force (F)

Answer 12

the impetus given to an object and defined as mass times acceleration.

Question 13

Forensic failure analysis

Answer 13

Investigations that deal with trying to determine why certain processes, materials, structures or components failed in the performance of their intended function.

Question 14

Frictional coefficient (f)

Answer 14

A numeric value that indicates the resistance an object encounters when moving over another surface.

Question 15

Operating System

Answer 15

The software that controls and runs the basic functions of the computer.

Question 16

RAM

Answer 16

Random Access Memory.

Question 17

ROM

Answer 17

Read Only Memory, digital memory that cannot be written over but can be read by a computer.

Question 18

Persistent data

Answer 18

data stored on a hard drive that remains after a computer is turned off.

Question 19

Margin of Safety (MoS)

Answer 19

The ratio of the actual strength of the structure to the required strength of the structure.

Question 20

Byte

Answer 20

a piece of digital information made up of eight bits. Kb is a kilobyte (1000 Bytes) and MB is a megabyte (1,000,000 bytes).

Question 21

Comparison analysis

Answer 21

A method that attempts to associate a standard reference sample of known origin to a sample of unknown origin.

Question 22

CD-ROM

Answer 22

Compact Disk Read-Only Memory.

Question 23

Work (W)

Answer 23

energy used to move a mass through a distance and defined as force times distance

Question 24

Wire-tap

Answer 24

monitoring of communications transmissions.

Question 25

Volatile data

Answer 25

data stored in memory (often RAM) that is lost when the computer powers off.

Question 26

Static loads

Answer 26

Refers to the combined weight imposed upon a structure from relatively unchanging, or only very slowly changing, features of a structure. Sometime called a dead load.

Question 27

Conservation of energy

Answer 27

The principle that states that energy may be converted between its different forms but the total energy of an isolated system must remain constant.

Question 28

Cyclic loads

Answer 28

Forces on a structure that are occur over and over and can lead to fatigue and damage to building materials, sometimes considered a specific example of a dynamic load. Cyclic loads may occur from vibrations or heating/cooling cycles, for example.

Question 29

Design load

Answer 29

The expected actual load planned for a building.

Question 30

Crush energy

Answer 30

The amount of energy required to cause an observed indentation in a material. Usually given by E = Kx (where K is the measured crush coefficient for the car, x is the crush depth measured from the crashed car).

Question 31

Crush depth

Answer 31

The distance that a given part of a car is indented from a collision.

Question 32

Conservation of momentum

Answer 32

The principle that states that the total momentum of an isolated system must remain constant.

Question 33

Cybersecurity

Answer 33

The field that deals with providing integrity and trust to both stored data and information passing through computer-mediated channels.