Background
In this project we investigated the murder of Carleton Comet. He was attending a picnic at Chalk Hill on the edge of the San Marin High School campus. He was killed at 7:35 by a large steak knife in the back of his neck. He had just been released from prison and had a new name.
Tests
We conducted many forensic tests to find who murdered Comet. We did fingerprint tests, blood typing, DNA fingerprinting, chromatography, and karyotyping. Our main conclusion was that Nancy Normal killed Carleton Comet. All of our reasoning for this can be found in the following presentation.
copy_of_murder_mystery.pdf | |
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Content
Ink Chromatography- different ink contains many chemicals and colors. Chromatography utilizes ethyl to separate these ingredients which can be compared with other inks
Fingerprinting- using fingerprinting powder to make fingerprints visible and comparable by ridges and shapes.
DNA fingerprinting- running DNA in a gel so it can be compared with other samples
Agarose Gel- used to run the DNA samples
Electrophoresis- uses electricity to pull negatively charged DNA through the gel. Different DNA has different bands
Karyotyping- digitally cutting out a set of chromosomes to form a complete set. The set can be used to find diseases or to compare with crime scene samples
Pedigree- a chart showing family history, which is used to find likelihood of diseases, relationships, or possible motives
Fingerprinting- using fingerprinting powder to make fingerprints visible and comparable by ridges and shapes.
DNA fingerprinting- running DNA in a gel so it can be compared with other samples
Agarose Gel- used to run the DNA samples
Electrophoresis- uses electricity to pull negatively charged DNA through the gel. Different DNA has different bands
Karyotyping- digitally cutting out a set of chromosomes to form a complete set. The set can be used to find diseases or to compare with crime scene samples
Pedigree- a chart showing family history, which is used to find likelihood of diseases, relationships, or possible motives
Reflection
This project was interesting to investigate and compare results with other groups. I found it easy to stay on task as we ran different tests and did observations. Although it was easy to stay on task, there were other difficulties that came with the project. One hard part was when we were lifting fingerprints. We had to do multiple tries to get a clean print. Obviously, on a real crime scene we wouldn't have this ability. Our first did not even look like a print, just a blob. Luckily we were able to sort it out. A good day was when we did the pedigrees. The group was working very well together and we were very productive. We had good communication and were focused.
Another difficult part of this project was when we messed up the agarose gel. When we were making the gel to run the DNA samples, there was a mistake in the calculations, and the gel did not set do to a lack of agarose. This was frustrating because they had to be remade. A peak of this project for me personally was when we successfully ran the gels and got good results.
Another difficult part of this project was when we messed up the agarose gel. When we were making the gel to run the DNA samples, there was a mistake in the calculations, and the gel did not set do to a lack of agarose. This was frustrating because they had to be remade. A peak of this project for me personally was when we successfully ran the gels and got good results.