| 
		
	
		
		
		
		 
			
			I kind of like CSI, but I've seen some really stupid things on it. 
 
There was an episode about a guy who got electrocuted, and the CSI gang needed to determine if his blood was conductive.  Unfortunately he had been cremated, but they had a pint of his blood (for some reason) that they could test.  To test the blood for conductivity, Grissom inserted wires into the pint bag to form a circuit in series with a regular light bulb and plugged the circuit into the wall!  The light bulb lit up, Grissom smiled, and I shook my head in disbelief. 
 
In case it isn't obvious, you measure conductivity/resistance with an ohm-meter.  God only knows what would happen if you ran 120 Volt AC current through a pint of blood, but I bet it wouldn't be pretty.  Also, you wouldn't contaminate the entire pint when only a few ml would be needed for the test.  Finally, blood is always a pretty good conductor to begin with. 
 
Since that episode, my interest in the show has waned.
		 
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
	 |