Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Forensic and Investigative Science

Committee Chair

Suzanne Bell

Committee Co-Chair

Patrick Buzzini

Committee Member

Keith B. Morris

Abstract

Refractive index has been chosen as a comparison technique in glass analysis for many years. Hidden in this comparison is a quantitative measurement that requires the assessment of uncertainty. In this experiment, refractive index was performed on 63 samples from 41 sources of glass. Pairwise comparisons were calculated to illustrate the difference between using a conventional approach like standard deviation to using uncertainty. The amount of pairwise comparisons more than tripled from standard deviation to uncertainty showing the need to consider all possible sources of uncertainty in a refractive index measurement.

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