Illustrated Guide to Home Forensic Science Experiments

Chapter 3. Lab I-1 Gather and Prepare Soil Samples

Equipment and Materials

You’ll need the following items to complete this lab session. (The standard kit for this book, available from http://www.thehomescientist.com, includes the items listed in the first group.)

Materials from Kit

• Goggles

Materials you Provide

• Gloves

• Bags, quart/liter plastic zip

• Drying dishes (saucers, oven dishes, etc.)

• Oven

• Pen, felt-tip marking

• Specimens: soil (see text)

Warning

Although the only real danger in this lab session is handling hot material, as a matter of good practice, you should always wear splash goggles and gloves when doing lab work.

Background

Because the makeup of soil can vary so much over a small area, the first task faced by the forensic analyst is to gather known ...