Forensics C

[wexs883198215]

Any tips on telling the difference between KCl and NaCl? I struggle to see the lavender flame of KCl sometimes, and I would like to have a better way of differentiating the two.

[gogofofo]

Any tips on telling the difference between KCl and NaCl? I struggle to see the lavender flame of KCl sometimes, and I would like to have a better way of differentiating the two.

NaCl's flame is unmistakably yellow, at that point it's a matter of differentiating it from the other Na compounds.

[jazzy009]

Any tips on telling the difference between KCl and NaCl? I struggle to see the lavender flame of KCl sometimes, and I would like to have a better way of differentiating the two.

NaCl's flame is unmistakably yellow, at that point it's a matter of differentiating it from the other Na compounds.

...probably not what you want to hear, but if you can't see the lavender flame, you need to relearn flame tests. No offense. It takes a second for the lavender to appear, but once it does it's pretty obvious. As oppose to any sodium compound as gogo pointed out is yellow and stains your loop...argh.

[AustinRHL]

Yeah, loop staining is a major problem for us. We've had to adapt our flowchart because our loops no longer can distinguish between sodium and any of the ones that don't burn, and some of our loops have become permanently colored. Lithium did so particularly badly, and I think that boric acid gets "fused" onto the loop, as well.

We've all been scratching our heads at the water testing portion of the event. We aren't worried about it - it should be straightforward - but we can't fathom how it can replace such essentials as hair and fibers. After all, the event name is Forensics, not Chemical Testing, so what were the event designers thinking?

I've only done Forensics at the national level once before, and as I'm sure that any veterans of the event will remember, the test was absurdly long (I recall multiple hundreds of questions). Is that how the event is always run at nationals, and can we expect it do be the same this year?

[jazzy009]

Yeah, loop staining is a major problem for us. We've had to adapt our flowchart because our loops no longer can distinguish between sodium and any of the ones that don't burn, and some of our loops have become permanently colored. Lithium did so particularly badly, and I think that boric acid gets "fused" onto the loop, as well.

We've all been scratching our heads at the water testing portion of the event. We aren't worried about it - it should be straightforward - but we can't fathom how it can replace such essentials as hair and fibers. After all, the event name is Forensics, not Chemical Testing, so what were the event designers thinking?

I've only done Forensics at the national level once before, and as I'm sure that any veterans of the event will remember, the test was absurdly long (I recall multiple hundreds of questions). Is that how the event is always run at nationals, and can we expect it do be the same this year?

Use hydrochloric acid. Even a diluted amount will get rid of the stains.

As for the length of test, the person who writes the Nats test suggests to people writing tests something along the lines of this:
Invitationals: 100 points
Regions: 200 points
State/Nats: 300-400 points
She claims that this will separate the teams adequately without having too many ties. Sound logic, I suppose.

[kjhsscioly]

Yeah, loop staining is a major problem for us. We've had to adapt our flowchart because our loops no longer can distinguish between sodium and any of the ones that don't burn, and some of our loops have become permanently colored. Lithium did so particularly badly, and I think that boric acid gets "fused" onto the loop, as well.

We've all been scratching our heads at the water testing portion of the event. We aren't worried about it - it should be straightforward - but we can't fathom how it can replace such essentials as hair and fibers. After all, the event name is Forensics, not Chemical Testing, so what were the event designers thinking?

I've only done Forensics at the national level once before, and as I'm sure that any veterans of the event will remember, the test was absurdly long (I recall multiple hundreds of questions). Is that how the event is always run at nationals, and can we expect it do be the same this year?

we had loops, but we use splints more often because they are single use, and they will burn for a decent amount of time without lighting is they are soaked in water. we had no issue seeing the color, so I guess they worked pretty well

[classictoaster]

Okay, has anyone here been to the Nationals Level and done Forensics? I'm assuming there's not really much new stuff.. From my understanding, it's just more poweders, and a longer test. Anything different about the Nationals test worth noting?

[salcedam]

Okay, has anyone here been to the Nationals Level and done Forensics? I'm assuming there's not really much new stuff.. From my understanding, it's just more poweders, and a longer test. Anything different about the Nationals test worth noting?

There is definitely a higher difficulty level with the Nationals test. Besides more powders, they ask more in-depth questions about water testing, blood, fingerprinting, glass, etc. You basically need to learn as much as you can possibly learn about everything that's on the rules. Our team came out of Forensics with their goggles full of condensation because of the stress and running around and the general work load that's there to do. They didn't even finish the whole test and they managed to get first which is a testimony to the difficulty of the test.

[kmax12]

Okay, has anyone here been to the Nationals Level and done Forensics? I'm assuming there's not really much new stuff.. From my understanding, it's just more poweders, and a longer test. Anything different about the Nationals test worth noting?

There is definitely a higher difficulty level with the Nationals test. Besides more powders, they ask more in-depth questions about water testing, blood, fingerprinting, glass, etc. You basically need to learn as much as you can possibly learn about everything that's on the rules. Our team came out of Forensics with their goggles full of condensation because of the stress and running around and the general work load that's there to do. They didn't even finish the whole test and they managed to get first which is a testimony to the difficulty of the test.

The test at nationals is certainly difficult. I am getting here kind of late to give you any tips for the test, but I am curious what other teams thought of it. I only did the chromo and water testing sections and didn't even finish them completely. Ultimately, I had to guess on a bunch with a hope of getting some points. Leaving the room, like my teammate above me said, I was not confident. Linda Wozniewski certainly wrote a long test that challenged teams. I got tripped up as a sophomore taking the test and finished 10th. I got tripped up again, albeit less, as a junior taking the test and got 1st. No matter what it is a test that can separate the good teams from the great teams.

If anyone has any questions about the test feel free to ask them here or email me at [email protected] .

[foranatdis]

Okay, has anyone here been to the Nationals Level and done Forensics? I'm assuming there's not really much new stuff.. From my understanding, it's just more poweders, and a longer test. Anything different about the Nationals test worth noting?

There is definitely a higher difficulty level with the Nationals test. Besides more powders, they ask more in-depth questions about water testing, blood, fingerprinting, glass, etc. You basically need to learn as much as you can possibly learn about everything that's on the rules. Our team came out of Forensics with their goggles full of condensation because of the stress and running around and the general work load that's there to do. They didn't even finish the whole test and they managed to get first which is a testimony to the difficulty of the test.

The test at nationals is certainly difficult. I am getting here kind of late to give you any tips for the test, but I am curious what other teams thought of it. I only did the chromo and water testing sections and didn't even finish them completely. Ultimately, I had to guess on a bunch with a hope of getting some points. Leaving the room, like my teammate above me said, I was not confident. Linda Wozniewski certainly wrote a long test that challenged teams. I got tripped up as a sophomore taking the test and finished 10th. I got tripped up again, albeit less, as a junior taking the test and got 1st. No matter what it is a test that can separate the good teams from the great teams.

If anyone has any questions about the test feel free to ask them here or email me at [email protected] .

Hey wats up new trier
u guys are amazing - just gotta say that - both juniors and gettin 1st at nats ?- pretty beastly right there- yea stevenson right here- booyah go illinois! lol- ah... chromotography took such a long time to do...we skipped the entire water testing section cuz we didnt have time to figure out how to work the calculator...blood analysis & dna werent bad nd went by quickly ...didnt finish glass/ mass spec...idk about powders since my partner worked on that but i think that went alright... nd our write up was just average ...that got us 7th ...kinda wish we were more prepared for the water testing...tho im not complaining...just glad that we were within the top ten for that.