During this Project we were put in groups and given a murder mystery. We were told the story and given different pieces of evidence. With the evidence we had to investigate and provide a presentation convicting someone or multiple people of a crime.
Evidence we were given to investigate . Fingerprint found on broken glass . A note . Three different types of pens (assuming one was used to write the note) . Two types of blood found on murder weapon . Strand of hair . Karyotyping (detect chromosomal abnormalities)
Procedures we used Chromotography-Chromatography is a process by which you separate a mixture by passing it in solution or suspension or as a vapor (as in gas chromatography) through a medium in which the components move at different rates. We used chromatography to determine which pen was used to write the note left at the scene. For this process we put a small amount of isopropyl alcohol at the bottom of a small beaker. The next step is to place a strip of chromatography paper with a dot from each pen found at the crime scene inside the beaker just barely in the alcohol, with the dot at the bottom. Allow the solvent to move up the paper for at least 10 minutes. You then measure the distance the solvent traveled and the distance the pen ink traveled. Blood typing-For the blood typing portion we were determining the blood type of the people at the scene due to blood samples found. In order to find a person's blood type you put five drops of blood into a well and one drop of selected antiserum (anti-A or anti-B) to the well and rock to mix. If it reacts to the serum, gets clumpy, then it is that type. Fingerprinting- -Obtain fingerprint -look at the print under the light microscope at 4x and 10x power -Identify recognizable features from fingerprint( whorl, loop, arch) -Dust it with fluorescent powder and feather duster -photograph the print through the amber shield on the microlight -Lift the print off the slide with the lifter film, peel off the protective backing and place the sticky side of the lifter film on print then lift it and fold down on the pre attached lifter card -attach and label -compare the print to prints taken from suspects at the crime scene
I learned a lot about -Genetic diseases such as Huntington's disease -Human Genetics and inheritance such as inheriting diseases, personality traits, or characteristics -Different chromosomal abnormalities -DNA fingerprinting and sequencing
I liked the investigating part of the project and doing all the different processes in order to convict a person for a crime they committed. I wonder if having more pieces of evidence would help to better the project.