· Angle of Impact -- The acute angle formed between the direction of a blood drop and the plane of the surface it strikes.
· Cast-Off Pattern -- A bloodstain pattern created when blood is released or thrown from a blood-bearing object in motion.
· Drip Pattern -- A bloodstain pattern which results from blood dripping into blood.
· Flight Path -- The path of the blood drop, as it moves through space, from the impact site to the target.
· Flow Pattern -- A change in the shape and direction of a bloodstain due to the influence of gravity or movement of the object.
· Impact Pattern -- Bloodstain pattern created when blood receives a blow or force resulting in the random dispersion of smaller drips of blood.
· Misting -- Blood which has been reduced to a fine spray, as a result of the energy or force applied to it.
· Projected Blood Pattern -- A bloodstain pattern that is produced by blood released under pressure as opposed to an impact, such as arterial spurting.
· Spatter -- That blood which has been dispersed as a result of force applied to a source of blood. Patterns produced are often characteristic of the nature of the forces which created them.
· Target -- A surface upon which blood has been deposited.
· Transfer/Contact Pattern -- A bloodstain pattern created when a wet, bloody surface comes in contact with a second surface. A recognizable image of all or portion of the original surface may be observed in the pattern.
· Wipe Pattern -- A bloodstain pattern created when an object moves through an existing stain, removing and/or altering its appearance.
Information used from “Forensic Serology: Bloodstain Pattern Analysis.” http://www.policensw.com/info/forensic/forensic6c.html
