
161
4
Chemistry and Nuclear
Forensic Science
Although engineering-scale chemical operations create the forensic signatures that
t
he
a
nalyst
i
nterprets,
c
hemistry
o
n
t
he
l
aboratory
s
cale
e
stablishes
t
he
m
ethods
u
sed
b
y
t
he
a
nalyst
t
o
i
solate
t
hose
s
ignatures
a
nd
d
enes
t
he
a
ccuracy
w
ith
w
hich
t
hey
c
an
b
e
m
easured.
C
hemical
e
ffects
o
n
a s
mall
s
cale
c
ontrol
t
he
ne
s
tructure
o
f
t
he
m
atrix
o
f
a s
ample
d
own
t
o
m
icrometer
d
imensions.
T
his
i
s
p
articularly
i
mportant
i
n
t
he
study and characterization of particles. Chemical effects also control the interactions
o
f
t
he
s
ample
s
urface
w
ith
t
he
e
nvironment
a
nd
m
ay
p
rovide
c
lues
t
o
t
he
p
ath
o
ver
w
hich
t
he