Fingerprints left at crime scenes are one of the tools used to incriminate or eliminate suspects. However, they’re not always visible, and investigators will often rely on chemical techniques in order to visualise them. There are a large number of techniques that can be used to do this; here, we take a look at four of the most common.
Anyone who’s watched CSI or similar shows knows that, whenever the investigating team are on the scene of a gruesome and bloody murder, luminol solution gets sprayed liberally over absolutely everything. The result is a pale blue luminescence whenever the solution meets blood, which itself is a consequence of a chemical reaction that the blood gives a helping hand to. Here, we look at this reaction – and what horseradish has to do with it.
