Tues Feb1: Making Our Own Fingerprint Dusting Kits!

MAKING FINGER PRINT KITS

Last week everyone wanted to take more latent fingerprints after we had dusted Dr. Wang's classroom for Arch, Loops and Whorls! So this week one of the things we did is to make a "Take Home " fingerprint kit which included:

• crushed charcoal dust
• cornstarch dust
• a vial for each of the dusting powders
• a large test tube to hold the two powders
• a paintbrush to apply very small amounts of the powders
• tape to lift the latent print
• instruction cards 

•  A Junior Detective grinding charcoal with a mortar and pestle

• Here are some helpful hints for the kits
•  
• Rule 1: Always ask mom or dad before you dust a surface for prints
• Rule 2: dark powder shows prints on light surfaces and light powder is for dark surfaces
• Rule 3: Always clean up when you are done
• Rule 4: Have fun and ask lots of  questions.

THIS WEEK's MYSTERY PICTURE: After the recent snow and ice storms one Junior Detective took this picture. Why do you think all of the trees in the picture are bent to the right?

This week we used the Smartboard to visit the CSI virtual Biology Lab to learn about some of the equipment used to analyze DNA evidence.

NEXT WEEK: We will extract DNA from a Banana and bring it home in a Banana DNA necklace!