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Qu€€nMon€y wrote:I'm determined to medal in Forensics but I need help in powder and fiber identification. I have a chart on it in my cheat sheet but I want to know the process that makes the identification fast.

If u have a chart to identify everything, then the best way to learn how to quickly ID everything is through practice.

Hi! Is it just me or does powders take a long time to do? Every competition I do not finish and my partner has to do polymers, chroma, mass spec, and physical evidence themselves. Is there something I’m doing wrong? Also test tube cleaning in between powders takes a long time? And sometimes I even run out ot powders. Is this normal? Thanks

scienceisfunalil wrote:Hi! Is it just me or does powders take a long time to do? Every competition I do not finish and my partner has to do polymers, chroma, mass spec, and physical evidence themselves. Is there something I’m doing wrong? Also test tube cleaning in between powders takes a long time? And sometimes I even run out ot powders. Is this normal? Thanks

Try well plates... this will limit true cleanup in between, and help you keep track of the powders easily. Also, depending on the type of person you are, either work only with one powder at a time, or do one test at a time. I prefer working with about 3 powders at a time, just to keep me from getting too confused. I only use test tubes for benedicts.

C8H10N4O2! wrote:

scienceisfunalil wrote:Hi! Is it just me or does powders take a long time to do? Every competition I do not finish and my partner has to do polymers, chroma, mass spec, and physical evidence themselves. Is there something I’m doing wrong? Also test tube cleaning in between powders takes a long time? And sometimes I even run out ot powders. Is this normal? Thanks

Try well plates... this will limit true cleanup in between, and help you keep track of the powders easily. Also, depending on the type of person you are, either work only with one powder at a time, or do one test at a time. I prefer working with about 3 powders at a time, just to keep me from getting too confused. I only use test tubes for benedicts.

ahh thank you. so how do you keep track of which powders are in which wells? And how do you clean the wells?

scienceisfunalil wrote:

C8H10N4O2! wrote:

scienceisfunalil wrote:Hi! Is it just me or does powders take a long time to do? Every competition I do not finish and my partner has to do polymers, chroma, mass spec, and physical evidence themselves. Is there something I’m doing wrong? Also test tube cleaning in between powders takes a long time? And sometimes I even run out ot powders. Is this normal? Thanks

Try well plates... this will limit true cleanup in between, and help you keep track of the powders easily. Also, depending on the type of person you are, either work only with one powder at a time, or do one test at a time. I prefer working with about 3 powders at a time, just to keep me from getting too confused. I only use test tubes for benedicts.

ahh thank you. so how do you keep track of which powders are in which wells? And how do you clean the wells?

You can mark the top of the well plate with a sharpie. You can also label each well plate with a number or letter, and some well plates are labeled. I saw some teams using them at MIT and it seemed that it was not an issue for those teams. And simply water should work for cleaning. Hope that helps!

Hello,
For the forensic event, do we need to bring our own materials that are listed on the recommended lab equipment list?

nishkajakkidi wrote:Hello,
For the forensic event, do we need to bring our own materials that are listed on the recommended lab equipment list?

That is correct. The supervisor sure isn’t obligated to provide the stuff on that list for ya.

Hello again! So I’m doint research into ammonium chloride, and it says that ammonium chloride polymerizes when put in the flame. What does this mean? Thanks

Hey again! I’m trying to find where I can buy plastics to practice with? I tried clicking the link to eezway but it didn’t lead anywhere. If you could point me in the direction or tell me what I should be looking for that would be very helpful. Thanks!

I’m trying to get better at the essay portion of Forensics, but from the last few competitions what I’ve noticed is how do even get points for writing the evidence if we analyzed the evidence wrong? It seems to me that identifying a substance wrong for example, would hurt you twice. Anyone have any tips on how to improve this section or have a rubric?