How Is Forensic Science Like Earth Science?
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Earth Science
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Earth science is, as the name might imply, a scientific study of the earth. Relying heavily on geology, astronomy, oceanography, and meteorology, earth science attempts to understand what happened on earth, what is happening on earth, and what may happen on earth. This branch of study, like any science, uses the scientific method of observing, questioning, hypothesizing, testing, and re-testing in order to prove a theory. For many people though, earth science is about studying earth's rich past, and finding out where and how long ago.
Forensic Science
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While commonly confused with crime scene investigation, forensic science is actually something else entirely. Defined as the application of scientific methods and processes to matters that involve crime and the public. Sciences that could be used in this way are chemistry, biology, pathology, psychology, engineering, and even earth sciences such as geology and oceanology. As long as a branch of science can help to solve a matter of public interest or a crime, it can be used as a forensic science.
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Similarities
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Excluding the fact that there are forensic earth sciences (soil analysis for samples found at a crime scene for instance), forensic sciences and earth sciences often have similar goals. Both of them attempt to figure out what happened in a given situation, and they use scientific methods to deduce the who, what, why, where, when, and how. Whether it's a pathologist estimating a murder victim's time of death, or a geologist dating a rock formation, the intent is roughly the same even if the particular applications will be different.
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