ABSTRACT: Forensics ballistics is a field of criminology that benefits most from comparison microscopy. A lot of developments in this particular field are even brought about by the new applications in comparison microscopy. Know more about forensic ballistics comparison microscopy through the article below.

When comparison microscopy is talked about, the first and probably the only thing that comes to mind would be the field of forensic science. It is a rather broad field, and forensic ballistics is only a good part of it. Simply defined, forensic ballistic is the discipline that is concerned in the process of matching a bullet to the gun that had fired it.

Simple ballistics is referred to the process of identifying firearms. But when forensic science is applied to it, ballistics becomes a lot more precise and accurate in nature. Forensic ballistics is the method that is employed so that a firearm can be compared to the bullets that were recovered from a particular crime scene.

Forensics, on its own, is the science that integrates the many principles of microscopy. It is the field that requires two samples to be analyzed under a microscope side by side. Therefore, the comparison microscope used in forensic ballistics is a device that looks like two compound microscopes combined by a bridge and a good set of binocular eye piece.

The comparison microscopes used in a forensic ballistics setup allows for a simultaneous analysis of fired bullets and cartridge cases. Examiners can do the investigation with one pair at a single time. This helps them in either confirming or eliminating the instance of two bullets being fired by a single firearm.

The comparison microscope used in a forensic laboratory is sometimes referred to a ballistics microscope. This device is a very essential tool, because without them it is very impossible to accurately detect which bullet came from which firearm. But then again, a good comparison microscope is just the device or the element. It is still the forensic examiner that performs the comparison.

What examiners really do in forensic ballistics is to look at the interior of the firearm’s barrel. The barrel of a gun is built to contain grooves, which in turn, force the bullets to rotate while they goes through the hole. The grooves, as well as the lands inside the gun’s barrel create several impressions on the bullet’s surface. Plus, the gun’s barrels have imperfections that are unique to each other. These imperfections in turn, are transferred onto the bullets. This now becomes the main area of interest of forensic examiners. They match the dents on the bullets with that of the guns. A perfect match leads effectively them to the gun that fired that ammunition.

This process of comparing and analyzing guns and bullets can also be called as ballistic fingerprinting. More often than not, investigators recover several bullets and cartridges on the scene of the crime. And even if they haven’t recovered the gun used in firing the bullets just yet, through the application of the techniques of comparison microscopy, it becomes possible for them to know for sure if the bullets they recovered were fired from exactly the same gun.

Now if the gun was finally recovered, it becomes a different story. The whole thing becomes a lot simpler for the police to solve. When the bullets are recovered from the crime scene and the gun was located among them, then what the police has is a very valuable lead. They can then trace the gun to its owner quite easily, especially if it is licensed. Otherwise, they can check it for fingerprints which incidentally, can only be done through a comparison microscope.

Almost all of the crime scene investigation cases need to be resolved with comparison microscopy. This is how vital the role of microscopes are in maintaining peace and order within the society. Microscopes are certainly not only for medicine research and biological studies alone. They are very helpful tools in forensics science as well.

Forensic ballistics comparison microscopy paves the way for justice to prevail as it should. Over time, the microscopes being produced exclusively for police laboratory investigations are enhanced in terms of its optical, electronic, and mechanical parts. They are created more complex as time and technology progresses. And these are all important because of the role that forensic ballistics comparison microscopy plays. With these facts, it is very safe to say that forensic ballistics comparison microscopy is one of the many factors why human lives are preserved.