Forensics?

[adam124218]

Has anyone else on the boards done Forensics at Nationals? Are those tests intense or what? The sheet chromatography is always a disaster for us; we just can't seem to get the juices not to all run together. I'm curious what other people who took that test thought.

[genes_girl]

I did it at nationals this past year, and I think the year before but I am not completely certain. Honestly, the tests were not that different for us because the national supervisor runs our regional and state competitions as well. I did manage to completely screw our scores by forgetting to leave space for the liquid chromotography and just doing the pens...and then failing on the rf's. SO yeah, the test was more difficult because it is nats and the pressure is different, but the test itself was brutal. The shear number of questions every time is what always gets me- less than an hour to do all the practical parts, write the answers, explain the answers, write the write-up that combines it all, and clean? It is insane, but you've got to love it!

[adam124218]

Yeah, I had her for state too (meaning we're from the same state! ) but I just wanted to make the questions more broad.

The volume of test really is what makes it so insane, I agree. It's very difficult just to get everything done in that amount of time and be cleaned up and everything. I think it is a distinct advantage to know what you're in for going into it, though. Being able to handle the event coordinator is really important for that event. I asked her a question at nationals and she seriously screamed at me. I think if I hadn't been expecting that kind of response I would have been really rattled. But I think there is something sickly enjoyable about those tests. They're fun.

I can't wait until the nationals test booklet comes out to see if I got those fibers and hairs correct!

[dudeincolorado]

wait so is it like a really big test and testing?!

[genes_girl]

Yeah, the tests are somewhere between 130 and 200 questions, plus everything you have to do to find the answers. If you finish it ( and well, not with stupid answers) you are god. We came close once...at regionals. But it is both questions on results AND general information on fingerprints, DNA, etc. Don't forget the writeup as well!

[adam124218]

The test isn't always like that. It's only really that way with the national coordinator. Other tests can be totally different. Our regional test had a bunch of questions about interpreting mass spectroscopy, but the state and nationals tests didn't go into that much detail at all. Also, at regionals they gave us these pathetic microscopes, one of which was little better than a hand lens--it's highest magnification must have been about 4x--and the other which had so many dials that even the students who were running the event couldn't figure out how to use it. There's so much variation in what will be on different tests.

Has anyone managed to find pure spandex to test? We've never been able to find it because everything is a spandex blend.

[genes_girl]

Sorry, I thought it was just in reference to nats. The others vary, but the powder sections tend to stay the same- what is it, how did you identify it, who does it incriminate.

As for the spandex, no, not really. We never really put too much effort into it, we looked up differences between man made vs. organic and other aspects that depending on how they react to flame would narrow it down until we knew what it was.

[Freak of Science]

In response to the post regarding compounds to be used in a flame test:

I take it that it is necessary to both use a reaction test to determine a carbonate or bicarbonate, as well as a flame test to figure out the metallic compound it is binded to?

[genes_girl]

We never had to use a flame test to identify carbonate vs. bicarbonate and which one it was. You should be able to tell just using HCl and Water. HCL for your reaction test and then water for consistency/dissolves/doesn't dissolve/other and pH.

[adam124218]

So I was looking at the Chem Lab page on the national website, and I think the picture accompanying it is a picture of Forensics from nationals. I'm pretty sure I'm right. In fact, I'm positive, since I did both of those events at nats and that's definitely Forensics. Can anyone agree with me?