(If the last post was boring, this one could be even worse.)
I had thought that calculations using geometry would be the answer to finding the unknown diameter of the cylinder that struck JonBenets head. While the geometry confirms the shape of the object, it doesnt provide a solution to finding the diameter. I didnt know this until I found a place where math geeks hang out and posed the question. I wont bother trying to explain the entire solution, I struggled to understand it myself. If you care to read the entire exchange, you can find it here:
http://www.mathisfunforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=19141
The question I posed is:
I have a sphere with a diameter of 6.5", and it intersects with a cylinder of unknown (but smaller) diameter. However, I know that the resulting elliptical intersection of the sphere and the cylinder is 1.75" x 0.5". Given this information, is it possible to calculate the diameter of the cylinder.
The answer came from
Bob Bundy, complete with instructions on how to solve the problem (which is useful, because the curvature of the skull varies and I only asked how to figure for a 6.5 diameter). Since the curvature of the human skull varies, skull diameters given from various sources are based on average diameters. The other problem in trying to be exact is that we dont know exactly where the depressed fracture is located -- even though weve pretty much narrowed down the area quite a bit. For that reason, I will still need to do some tests with the toy skull in hopes of getting a more exact diameter. But for the time being, the answer I got from the math forum is that given a 6.5 diameter sphere, the cylinder would have a diameter of 0.67. So for the time being, Ill say that the weapon had to be between 1/2 and 1.
If this is accurate, then a lot of possible weapons can be eliminated, including the one I was beginning to lean toward. And this is why, even though I had this information back in March, I hadnt posted it. I was baffled by what could have had that small of a diameter and yet be capable of causing the amount of fracture in a childs skull that was found in JonBenets.
This bothered me, because it created more of a question than it supplied answers. But when I started this thread, I didnt know exactly where it would end up (even though I thought at the time I knew). I only wanted to follow the evidence wherever it led. Then recently after posting a picture in response to a question from
Charterhouse, I saw something that, even though I had seen it before, it didnt dawn on me what I was seeing until I looked at it with this information. I think I know now what may have been grabbed to whack JonBenet over the head. Ill point you to the post that has the picture, and see if anyone else can come up with the same answer. Im not simply trying to be coy, but I would like to see if Ive climbed too far out on the crazy tree limb.
Look at [ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9518950#post9518950"]this post[/ame] and someone tell me what they see in the pictures. What is right there as plain as day, but probably went unnoticed by the investigators? Remember that part of their search (after completion of the autopsy) was for something that could be used as a bludgeon. They came back with the following (that we know of from the search warrants) that might be possibly be used as a weapon for the head blow:
Black sheet metal from wine cellar (39KKY)
baseball bat (3GLI)
golf clubs (4GLI)
red clay brick (48BAB)
baseball bat (74BAB)
hammer (6BAH)
flashlight (20JRB)
golf club (79BAH)
(BLACKED OUT ITEMs)
Notice that they were looking for something big and heavy. I dont think it occurred to the investigators doing the search to look at something like the object I have in mind. But then, I dont think that at the time they had the information that you have now (that it was probably a cylindrical object between 1/2 and 1 in diameter).
Ill wait a while before posting more unless someone can come up with something that tells me Im not crazy.