Question

FORENSIC SCIENCE

Imagine you are at a crime scene gathering evidence and need to lift a print off a Styrofoam coffee cup. How would you lift latent
prints off this porous object back in the laboratory and why?

Answer 1

Latent prints on a porous object like a Styrofoam coffee cup can be lifted in the laboratory using a chemical fuming process, such as cyanoacrylate fuming, which develops the prints for photographic or further enhancement.

Step-by-step explanation:

To lift latent prints from a porous object like a Styrofoam coffee cup back in the laboratory, forensic scientists typically use a chemical fuming process. The process involves exposing the Styrofoam cup to the fumes of a chemical that reacts with the residues left by fingers.

One commonly used method is cyanoacrylate fuming, where cyanoacrylate ester (superglue) is heated to produce fumes that adhere to the latent fingerprints, resulting in a visible white print. This method is effective for porous materials like Styrofoam, as it doesn't rely on powders sticking to moisture as with non-porous surfaces. The developed prints can then be photographed or further enhanced for analysis.