The Chemistry behind
Trace Evidence
Trace Evidence
This number tells us the sum of the number of protons plus neutrons.
What is mass number?
A type of reaction where oxygen is rapidly combined with a fuel, producing a release of energy.
What is combustion?
The first step in any soil analysis, this has to happen before you can determine color.
What is dry the soil?
An explosive ingredient commonly found in fertilizer.
What is ammonium nitrate?
Black powder is made up of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and this.
What is charcoal?
Atoms having the same atomic number but different atomic masses are called this.
What are isotopes?
The minimum temperature at which a liquid fuel will produce enough vapor to burn.
What is the flash point?
This paint coating helps resist UV radiation and acid rain.
What is the basecoat?
The explosive component of single-base powders.
What is nitrocellulose?
The speed of a low explosive.
What is deflagration?
These paths for electrons are the reason why elements selectively absorb certain frequencies of light.
What are electron orbitals (electron energy levels)?
The decomposition of organic matter by heat, into gaseous products.
What is pyrolysis?
A technique used to determine the polymeric binder in paint, it works by decomposing the sample by heat into gaseous products.
What is pyrolysis GC?
A secondary high explosive often used in detonating cords.
What is PETN?
The database for paint layer sequence, binder composition, etc. of automotive paint.
What is PDQ?
This is a type of radiation where helium atom (minus the orbiting electrons) is emitted.
What is an alpha particle?
Movement of heat through a solid object.
What is conduction?
The color chart used to characterize soil.
What is the Munsell color chart?
The main constituent of dynamite (also the explosive that makes smokeless powders double base).
What is nitroglycerin?
The poison of choice for the former KGB operatives who killed Alexander Litvinenko.
What is polonium-210?
A method of trace element analysis where atoms are excited in a hot plasma torch and the resultant emitted light is measured.
What is ICP?
This occurs when all combustible fuels simultaneously ignite, a phenomenon not well understood when the Sackett Street Fire occurred.
What is flashover?
Name the three things that make up the composition of paint.
What are pigment, binder, and solvent?
This portable device is used to screen for explosive residues at airports.
What is an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS)?
A method of trace analysis where the sample is bombarded with neutrons and the resultant gamma-rays are measured.
What is neutron activation analysis (NAA)?