Friday, April 17, 2015

Exothermic or Endothermic? Luminol and Blood Reaction

Criminals wiping away blood at a crime scene and officers completley stumped?
Lies.
With a chemical called luminol, officers and detectives can detect amounts blood that has been removed. This chemical reacts to the iron in the hemoglobin in the blood. Luminol can also react to copper and cyanides. When coming into contact with blood, this chemical glows an eeire blue color, releasing a small amount of heat, an exothermic reaction. However this is a rather slow process. Some of you may have seen this is police or detectives dramas, movies, games, or animes(coughdetectiveconancough). This method doesn't always work however, luminol also picks up traces of bleach and other cleaning substances. Luminol, or C8H7O3N3 is made of a powdery substance mixed with hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon. Below is a link to a neat video on luminol!


Credit on information goes to these two blogs

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