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Wow, my regional Forensics test was considerably harder than it usually is, I'm really surprised. But I suppose it was good practice.
I always tend to have time management problems - anyone have any good tips on the most efficient way to fill out that packet? How are you and your partner splitting up the info?

jazzy009 wrote:

pirate_capn38 wrote:
Out of curiosity, has anyone timed themselves doing qual? About how long is everyone averaging per powder? (Perhaps I'm being OCD, but it's an interesting concept to try...)

I'm a little under 30 minutes for 8 powders. I haven't timed each powder because some take considerably less time than others.

About 15 minutes for 6 powders here.

duuuuuuudddddeeeee.....I made such a big blunder in the Regionals test. I left the Forensics kit in the hotel room and was 25 minutes late to the event. my partner did an amazing job on the water testing and the rest of the analysis. we placed 3rd overall. wish i had more time to beast that test!

duuuuuuudddddeeeee.....I made such a big blunder in the Regionals test. I left the Forensics kit in the hotel room and was 25 minutes late to the event. my partner did an amazing job on the water testing and the rest of the analysis. we placed 3rd overall. wish i had more time to beast that test!

calm down abhas calm down

I agree--what's done is done. It's good you feel proud of your partner's accomplishments--just try to learn from the experience and take what you can.

Does anyone have any good information on testing for common anions or cations?

Ok, so water testing... I haven't been able to find stellar info either. Why hasn't the official website Forensics page been altered yet? It still has info on polymers and fibers from last year, but nothing on water testing. Are there any other places that might have good links? Any help would be SO appreciated! (get it, SO? yeah, i know, i'm hilarious) But really, what's up with the lack of info on the official site?

gsingh2011 wrote:Does anyone have any good information on testing for common anions or cations?

Consider solubility rules. Don't overlook a strong background in general chemistry and biology

fly-away-ladybug wrote:

gsingh2011 wrote:Does anyone have any good information on testing for common anions or cations?

Consider solubility rules. Don't overlook a strong background in general chemistry and biology

Hmm... could you elaborate? How would solubility rules help? The only thing I can think of is find another compound that reacts with the ion to form a precipitate, but there are a lot of compounds that would do that...

honestly, the best way to learn to test water is to actually do it. We had a nice program in 4th and 5th grade that allowed us to monitor the health of streams and keep largemouth bass in fishtanks. It helped a lot because we tested the water daily, in the tanks, and however often we visited our stream. I don't expect the the event sups will not give instructions, as that would be unsafe. They will also likely give ranges, if we do any actual testing. Knowing common contaminants is probably helpful, in which case, the government's site on water would be useful.

sigh... I have been put into and taken out of this event three times, so STATE is the first time I am actually doing the event. I originally thought it would be invites, then regionals, but both had last minute schedule changes...