CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Iced - S5-E23

Factual error: Dry ice sublimates at -78.5 C. That gas is going to be very, very cold and it will rapidly bring the temperature of the room down to a very uncomfortable level. Before a sleeping person suffocates they would be woken by the freezing cold.

Iced - S5-E23

Factual error: The murderer kills the two students by drilling a hole through the adjoining wall of the victim's room at floor level, placing 40lbs of dry ice next to the hole, and allowing the sublimating carbon dioxide to pass through the hole into the victim's room and creating a toxic atmosphere. Since the two rooms are at the same air pressure, the only possible way for the CO2 to move from one room to the next is to be pumped through. As neither room has an excessive level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the sublimating gas would fill both rooms until the CO2 levels in both rooms was the same.

Rlvlk

Spark of Life - S5-E18

Factual error: Sanders is seen in the burn victim's OR, during debridement, wearing his street clothes (under a paper apron), and no mask or hat. Considering that the woman's skin is practically one continuous open wound, and her immune system is in an exceedingly fragile state, there's no way a breach of sterility like that would be allowed.

Rooster of Doom

Who Shot Sherlock? - S5-E11

Factual error: Brown and Stokes are investigating a mysterious fatal accident involving a Jeep and a downed power line. They state that the driver would have been safe if the Jeep had made contact with the power line because the tires would have insulated the Jeep from the electrical current. Wrong. First, a car is a Faraday cage, that is an electrical current would pass on the outside of a car on the way to the ground. As long as you don't touch the outer surface, you are safe. Second, tires are (almost always now) steel belted radials and conduct electricity nicely. Lastly, it was an open top Jeep. The power line made contact with the roll bar thereby electrifying the inner surface of the Jeep. The driver is in contact with the inner surface. This is a list, from one year from one utility company, of people that died from contact with power lines. You will see that tires exploded from the contact and some caught fire. http://www.sigalarminc.com/HistoricalNotes.htm.

Rlvlk

Who Shot Sherlock? - S5-E11

Factual error: Brown and Stokes mix up enough ballistics gel to make a life-size dummy to test their theory. The entire production (getting a mannequin, making a mold from the mannequin, etc,.) takes place in one shift. Ballistics gel needs to cool in a fridge, or on ice, (32-41°F) overnight. That alone eliminates the possibility that it was done in one shift. http://www.recguns.com/Sources/XD3.html.

Rlvlk

Show generally

Factual error: In a number of episodes people are shown eating and drinking in the laboratories. For instance, in "Miss Willows' Regrets" Nick and Greg are seen eating fried chicken in the lab, and in "Overload" Sara eats a sandwich while watching Grissom experiment with her deli pickle. There are other examples. No reputable laboratory (which this is supposed to be) would allow its staff to eat or drink while in the lab. It is basic scientific protocol to prevent contamination of samples or the person picking up toxins on their food.

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Play with Fire - S3-E22

Question: Why would Catherine take the blame for the lab explosion? If anyone was to blame it was Hodges. Since he accidentally turned on the hot plate and even admits that sometimes it gets switched on by others accidentally, if he had bothered to make sure he didn't switch it on before leaving the room, the explosion never would have happened.

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