Great Harvest Bread Bakery

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Recently, a burglar broke into the Great Harvest Bread Bakery. The culprit escaped before the police arrived, but left behind an empty bag with a few grains of white powder. The police were able to narrow down the list to seven powders: cornstarch, aspirin, powdered sugar, baking soda, baking powder, enriched flour and Coffee Mate creamer. The unknown powder was sent to Beaverton Forensics Lab to be identified. Flame, iodine, solubility, vinegar, and melting point tests were conducted in order to compare the unknown powder to the 7 powders. Also, the powders were viewed under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and a Leica microscope.

Iodine Test

The Iodine Test is used to detect starch and other other polysaccharides. The glucose units …show more content…

Because vinegar is acidic, if it is poured on carbonate, then the carbonate will dissolve. The remains will be salt and water. Carbon dioxide will be released from the solution in the form of bubbles. So, if a powder contains carbonate it will bubble when vinegar is poured on top.

Solubility in Water

Solubility is the property of a solute to dissolve in a solvent to form a solution. Pouring and mixing the powders in water will test their solubility. A highly soluble powder will dissolve in the water without leaving an traces of solid powder. A less soluble powder would somewhat dissolve, but remains of the powder would gather on the bottom of the container.

Ph Test

The Ph test is a way to determine whether a solution is an acid or a base. Acids contain high concentrations of Hydrogen ions. Bases contain high concentrations of Hydrogen Oxide ions. The Ph scale goes from 0-14. If the Ph is closer to 0, then the solution contains more H+ ions. If the Ph is closer to 14, then the solution contains more OH+ ions. If the Ph is exactly 7, then the liquid is neutral. Water is the most common neutral liquid. The Ph of a liquid can be found using color coded Ph strips which react to the number of H+ and OH+ ions. To find the Ph of these powders, they were mixed with water, forming an acid or base

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