Forensics C

[pikachu4919]

One of the easiest ways to differentiate sodium chloride and sodium acetate is to dissolve both substances in water and smell them...sodium acetate generally smells like vinegar (it's actually used to flavor salt and vinegar chips) while sodium chloride smells like, well, nothing

I've never tried that ... but it does seem interesting. although I thought sodium acetate was basic and sodium chloride was acidic ...

also @computergeek3 ... that's a lot of events, and my four events are among yours! ... :O ... I wonder ...

[BoldlyGoingNowhere]

hi does anyone know how to identify the polymers that we are not allowed to burn?

also, im having trouble identifying between sodium chloride and sodium acetate.

thanks!

A lot of the time they'll give you burn test results (or photographs of the flames and what it looks like afterwards) for things like plastics.

[sciolyynerdd]

does anyone have a good chart for the plastics' densities?
thanks!
oh and their after burned pictures too!

[pikachu4919]

I created this one myself, but ...

unknown polymer
|
distilled water --floats--> 46% isopropyl alcohol --floats--> corn oil --floats--> PP
| | |
sinks sinks sinks
| | |
10% NaCl HDPE LDPE
| \
sinks floats --> PS
|
Saturated NaCl --floats--> 25% NaCl --floats--> PMMA
| |
sinks sinks
| |
flame PC
| \
green orange, shrivels w/ heat
| |
PVC PETE

EDIT: Oh shoot that did not turn out how I wanted it to ...

[EastStroudsburg13]

I suggest you make your flowchart using Word, take a screenshot, upload it to tinypic, and then post it here. That should work better.

[pikachu4919]

I don't have a tinypic ...

[EastStroudsburg13]

That shouldn't matter, you should still be able to upload things. If you get an account, then you'll be able to keep track of things better, but if you don't really want to find it after you post it, then doing it without an account should be fine.

[thsom]

Hey guys, I have two questions. First, How do you continue your powders tests when you don't have any phenolphthalein to test with or alcohol for solubility? I ran into those problems in a test. Second, when referring to the angle of the blood splattering, how do you calculate that and which angle is it referring to (the angle between the opposite side and the hypotenuse or the angle between the adjacent side and the hypotenuse if you are using a right triangle to solve for it)?

[pikachu4919]

Hey guys, I have two questions. First, How do you continue your powders tests when you don't have any phenolphthalein to test with or alcohol for solubility? I ran into those problems in a test. Second, when referring to the angle of the blood splattering, how do you calculate that and which angle is it referring to (the angle between the opposite side and the hypotenuse or the angle between the adjacent side and the hypotenuse if you are using a right triangle to solve for it)?

First, why are phenolphthalein and alcohol absolutely necessary? The reagents provided will work as long as you know what identifies what. It helps to have a flowchart for the powders as well, making sure that all the steps are actually feasible using what's given and not very time-consuming at competition.

As for angle of impact on blood spattering, it is , where theta is the angle, W is the width, and L is the length. arcsin is also known as reverse sine. No complex computations required. Well, of course, arcsin is related to trig, but calculating trig by hand is not required. Seriously, don't try to make it hard on yourself.

[sciolyynerdd]

Hii,

I don't understand what exactly do we have to learn for seeds and pollet & track and soil? Are we supposed to just match photographs?