Scioly.org

thanks

Does anyone know anything about a burn test for polymers? The results given to us were whether or not it burns after being removed from the flame, and I was under the impression that the burn test was about the "copper wire" test. If yes, can someone please point me in the correct direction to finding this information? Thanks for any help!

So I just got put on this event like 3 days ago. A little late, I think.

M-E-T-H-O-D MAN wrote:So I just got put on this event like 3 days ago. A little late, I think.

Oh, no worries. I don't even know if I'm going to be in the event and regions is this Saturday.

Does anyone know what we're expected to know for entomology/spatters/seed and pollen/tracks and soil? I'm not sure how to study those areas, especially the last two.

In response to most of these questions, I have been using http://soinc.org/forensics_notes page on the national Science Olympiad site. It has notes and practice areas, and complete practice tests. Also, most of the notes were written by coaches, so that's most likely the extent of what we'll need to know. Not all of the links work, but there is some good information hidden there.

I haven't competed in this event yet either, but I'm hoping I'll be prepared. I have an experienced partner to help me out, too.

Anyone take the forensics test at tiger invitational? it was extremely difficult..

ribonucleicacid621 wrote:Does anyone know what we're expected to know for entomology/spatters/seed and pollen/tracks and soil? I'm not sure how to study those areas, especially the last two.

No clue on entomology, seeds, or pollen (but I've never seen any of them on an event, whether practice or competition), but tracks they usually give photos of the partial track found at the crime scene, and then either photos of the different shoes/wheels from the suspects or photos of the complete tracks made by each.

Soil is a relatively new addition to the event, so I haven't seen that on an event either, but from what I've heard, it seems like they'll give you soil samples and various information about where the suspects live/work/go to school. For example, they might give you a very sandy soil sample, and you'd have to examine it and maybe write that it's sandy soil, and then say that the soil sample implicates suspect A because their profile says they take their dog for walks on the beach. Or it might be potting soil, and then you might say that it incriminates suspect B because they're a gardener.

courage7856 wrote:In response to most of these questions, I have been using http://soinc.org/forensics_notes page on the national Science Olympiad site. It has notes and practice areas, and complete practice tests. Also, most of the notes were written by coaches, so that's most likely the extent of what we'll need to know. Not all of the links work, but there is some good information hidden there.

There's a lot of good stuff there, as well as here. There's some overlap between the two, and some of the stuff on the second page isn't part of the event anymore (or is part of some other event), but there are some pretty useful links that only show up on the second one.

What other ways are there to determine the difference between polymers besides densities and flame tests? I've had some competitions not give us enough information to determine their identities with only this information. For example, some of the polymers had the same density test results and no burn tests were provided. I've also heard that in the past at state for Michigan the supervisors have not provided density tests or flame tests, just a block of the polymer itself.

Idk if anyone saw my post in Microbe Mission, but are judges picky on the type of goggles used??????? I don't have the exact goggles (my school uses different ones). Am I going to be penalized or anything?