Parent Stain
Definition
The primary drop that produces a drip pattern. The smaller surrounding spatters are the satellite spatter; together they tell you about drop height and surface texture.
- Category
- Bloodstain pattern component
- Paired term
- Satellite spatter
- Pattern type
- Drip pattern
- Informs
- Drop height and target-surface texture
Common questions
How is a parent stain told apart from satellite spatter?+
The parent stain is the larger, primary stain that produced the pattern. Satellite spatters are the smaller secondary droplets thrown off during impact, generally smaller in diameter and radiating outward from the parent.
What can measuring a parent stain tell an investigator?+
Its diameter and edge shape help estimate how far the blood fell before landing and can point to the texture of the surface it struck, since rougher surfaces tend to produce more scalloping and more satellite spatter.
Related terms
- Area of Convergence
- The 2-D point on a surface where the projected trajectories of multiple impact stains intersect. It's the floor-projection of the impact source.
- Area of Origin
- The 3-D point in space where the blood-shedding event occurred, derived from the area of convergence plus the angle of impact for...
- Cast-Off
- Blood thrown off a swung object (a hammer, a knife, a bat). The trail records the arc of the swing and often...
- Non-Newtonian Fluid
- A fluid whose viscosity changes with the shear rate. Blood thins under fast shear (a fast swing of a weapon) and thickens...
- Surface Tension
- The cohesive force at a liquid's surface that lets a drop hold a spherical shape in flight. Whole blood sits around 58...