Objective: Students will learn about forensic analysis through identification of poison and chemical structures of those poisons.
Materials: Each student will need
Overview: You work as a forensic chemist at the Centers for Disease Control. The following chart is faxed to you. Use the information below to determine what poison is affecting the patient. Use MacSpartan software and the Internet to determine the chemical structure of the poison , and treatment protocol to get the patient back to health.
Patient Name:
John Watters
Age: 45
Occupation: Plastics manufacturer
Symptoms: Patient presents semiconscious. Wife found him on the floor in the garage in vomit. All the wife knows is that he was working on the cars and found an opened bottle of brake fluid near him on the ground. She also reported finding several empty beer bottles in the garage. Other symptoms include shallow breathing and low blood pressure.
Diagnosis: Acute poisoning
Notes: Brake fluid contains ethylene glycol, and other typical car products include benzyl alcohol.
Blood Alcohol Content: .025
Physical Chemistry Findings:Molecular Weight: 46.07
Specific Gravity: 0.7893
Melting Point: -114.1 C
Vibrational Frequencies:
147.99
299.58
465.73
844.32
1017.58
1126.87
1197.63
1221.50
1339.88
1386.50
1387.38
1394.56
425.89