Chemistry of Crime Scene Investigation

Chemistry of Crime Scene Investigation

Burn Baby Burn (Arson experiment)

Question #1

PURE: 1,2,4,5,9,13,14,18,19,20

MIXTURES: 3,6,7,8,10,11,12,15,16,17,

Question #2

DID NOT HAVE THE TWO GASOLINE EXAMPLES IN THE PACKET PRINTED. INFORMATION NOT PRESENT.

Question #3

Our group decided that we wanted to find out if foam changed the burning rate and style of pine wood. To do this we first burnt just wood. Then we burnt wood with our accelerator Zippo lighter fluid. Then we burnt foam on wood with the same accelerator of Zippo lighter fluid. We burnt the wood and then the wood with lighter fluid to give us standards to go by. That is what we used to compare to the burning of wood with foam and lighter fluid. The thought is that with those standards and comparisons we could determine if foam causes wood to burn differently. We burned each sample for one minute and with approx the same amount of lighter fluid. We also conducted Gas Chromatograms of each of these samples to bolster and confirm our results.

Question #4

Our results were that foam does not effect the burning of wood. This came because of our gas chromatograms and how it showed almost the same exact results as wood burning alone with lighter fluid. When comparing the wood with lighter fluid and the wood with foam and lighter fluid there was a noticeable difference then with the wood that was burned with no accelerant in the gas chromatograms. The height of the flame with the wood with lighter fluid on it was a lot higher than the wood with foam and lighter fluid and the wood alone. We extinguished both of the pieces of wood with accelerant involved but the piece without accelerant