IA (HL) Math Exploration ethical issue

[AKD]

Ok, im planning to do my Math HL IA on bloodstain pattern analysis.

I have two options:

1. Test the effectiveness of the concepts and formulae of BPA for fluids other than blood.
   
2. Spatter blood and investigate it (must use my own blood)
   

Will i have any problems from the IB if i use my blood during this experiment? Is it ethical?

[khimberleigh]

I think they would object.

Firstly, I know definitely for the EE and possibly for IAs as well, you are not allowed to harm a living creature.

Secondly, in Australia we aren't allowed to do that experiment where you prick your finger and work out what blood type you are because there are laws against drawing blood at school unless it's for medical reasons. Of course that's Australia, your country may be different,so you would have to look up the laws for your country.

Thirdly, health risks!

Fourthly, you won't be penalised for using a blood substitute.

[flinquinnster]

So you did decide to go with blood splatter analysis - should be interesting! I would definitely say use a blood substitute, if you use your own blood that suggests some serious ethical issues that khimberleigh's pretty much summarised.

I don't actually see how the chemical composition of the liquid used would make a difference, because you're doing this in maths, not physics or chemistry. Therefore, I don't really see how the use of a liquid with a similar density, viscosity etc. to blood would be different in its splatter pattern. Then again, I don't know your model, so I can't really comment on the patterns that you hope to observe. My advice would just be to make sure you keep focusing on the mathematical, so geometrical/trig aspects and equations, rather than too much discussion about physics/chemistry of blood.

So yeah, I would say definitely steer clear of real blood. It's unnecessarily gruesome for maths, or indeed any IB project.

[AKD]

Hi again flinquinnster!

whats up with you? Boards comin up right... howz prep going?

Anyways, Do you happen to know of any such fluids with similar density, viscosity, surface tension.etc to blood?

I was just hesistating with using other liquids because the change in density might cause error in the formulas because they are based on the length and width of the spatter.

[flinquinnster]

Hi again flinquinnster!

whats up with you? Boards comin up right... howz prep going?

Anyways, Do you happen to know of any such fluids with similar density, viscosity, surface tension.etc to blood?

I was just hesistating with using other liquids because the change in density might cause error in the formulas because they are based on the length and width of the spatter.

I'm not really sure about any other liquids, but google might be able to help. I understand your concerns about the different physical properties, so your project might end up being on the splatter patterns of a specific liquid, rather than blood. I think that that would probably be acceptable, and preferable to actually using blood. So you might end up seeing whether other liquids conform to the BPA models others have proposed, and modifying the models to fit different circumstances.

However, as I have mentioned before, keep it on the mathematical. Ideally, there shouldn't be much actual physical experimentation - Maths is more concerned with testing and manipulating hypotheticals, as opposed to being a Physics thing, which is testing the physical.

[lilianna009]

It sounds more like Physics to me, we did blood spatter for group 4 . Inspired much by watching too much Dexter .

[Luka Petrovic]

how much blood would you have to draw? Apart from the ethical issues, i think safely drawing blood is one of the concerns. And considering this is math-based, a liquid with the same viscosity should suffice, if your variables are temperature or something, make sure it has similar properties.

Good Luck!