THE STRANGE CASE OF MOLE AIRLINES FLIGHT 1023
Scene of the Crash
At 6:02 a.m. you and your team of medical examiners are called to the scene of a plane crash on Mendeleev Manor. You find
evidence of a pre-crash explosion. At the site of the explosion a material has been found. Subsequent chemical analysis of
the material shows it was:
C
N
37.01%
18.5%
H
O
2.22%
42.27%
The mangled passengers are found in and around the crash. They must be identified by the substances found in their
belongings or in their bodies, since they are not recognizable and their dental records are not available. Upon further
investigation one passenger was suspected of having been murdered before the crash - the time of death was approximated
at one hour prior to the crash.
Your Job
1. Identify the purpose of your investigation and who you believe the murderer to be (hypothesis). Explain your
procedure for investigation. Collect data from the tables below and use it with your calculations.
2. Use the percent composition data in Table 3 to calculate formulas for the compounds found with or in the passengers.
Show all calculations in the data section of your lab report. Use Table 1 to identify each compound.
3. Use the personal data in Table 2 to make a probable identification of each passenger.
⮊ Create a data table to determine the identity of each victim. Include the evidence that supports your
identification.
⮊ The solution to the mystery is the one that the evidence points to by logical deduction. Do not insert ideas not
supported by the evidence.
⮊
As part of your conclusion you should explain who was murdered, who is the murderer, how they were killed,
and identify what substance was found at the explosion site.
Table 1: Possible Compounds
*empirical formula instead of the molecular formula is used.
Name
Empirical
Formula
Notes
Codeine
C18H21NO3
Cocaine
C17H21NO4
Pain killer, prescription
controlled
Narcotic, illegal
Aspirin
C9H8O4
Pain killer
Aspartame
C14H18N2O5
Artificial sweetener
Vanilla
C8H8O3
Flavoring
Trinitrotoluene
C7H5N3O6
Explosive (TNT-dynamite)
Nitroglycerine
C3H5N3O9
Explosive, heart medication
Curare
C40H44N4O
Poison
Theobromine
C7H8N4O2
Chocolate (flavoring)
Strychnine
C21H22N2O2
Rat poison
Dimetacrine
C10H13N*
Acetaminophen
C8H9NO2
Prescription drug,
antidepressant
Pain killer (Tylenol)
Table 2: Personal
Passengers & Crew
Redd D. Tocroak
Polly Pillcounter
Hoagie Bunn
Archie Givengrades
Threwit Allaway
Ivanna Bedown
Iselle Ubye
Data
Notes
Has a heart condition
Pharmacist
Baker
Teacher, addicted to sugar free drinks
Professional athlete, just suspended for
drug violations
Environmental engineer, severely
depressed
Suspected drug dealer
Table 3: Percent Composition Data of the Compounds Found in or with
the Passengers’ Bodies
Compound Analysis (% Composition)
Passenger
Location
C (%)
H (%)
N (%)
O (%)
1
67.30
6.99
4.62
21.09
2
63.14
5.31
--
31.55
Face
46.66
4.48
31.10
17.76
Stomach
3
72.20
7.08
4.68
16.03
4
15.86
2.22
18.51
63.41
5
75.41
6.64
8.38
9.57
Pockets
(2000
tablets)
Blood and
pockets
Blood
37.01
2.22
18.50
42.26
Pockets
6
57.12
6.18
9.52
27.18
Blood
7
75.41
6.64
8.38
9.57
Pockets
81.57
8.92
9.515
--
Pockets
59.99
4.48
--
35.52
Pocket
63.55
6.01
9.27
21.17
Pocket
8
Blood
THE STRANGE CASE OF MOLE AIRLINES FLIGHT 1023
Norm Anderson
Suspected leader of a terrorist organization
Steps for solving (Note: The underlined words are the sections you should have in your final writeup.)
1. Read through the information you are given and write a purpose (what are you trying to do) and a hypothesis (what
do you think happened - This is clearly an educated guess because you don’t know yet).
I believe that trinitrotoluene is the substance found on the crash site due to the percentages of each substance
matching with the ones at the crash site.
2. Write a BRIEF procedure for determining the identity of the 12 substances as well as the identity of the 8 passengers.
3. Use the percent composition data in table 3 to find empirical formulas of each of the 12 compounds, plus the
compound at the top of the sheet that was found at the crash site. Show ALL of your calculations in an organized
way. (Note: if a box is labelled " -- " it means that that element is not present in that compound.)
4. Create a data table in your lab notebook like the table below. Leave yourself room to write multiple compounds for
some passengers and room to write explanations in the far right column.
Passenger
Empirical
Formula of
Compound(s)
Name of
Compound(s)
Name of
Person
Explanation (how did you identify this passenger?)
Vanilla,
chocolate
Hoagie
Bun
We identified Hoagie Bun because vanilla and
chocolate are commonly used by bakers when
making sweets and pastries.
We identified Redd D. Tocroak because this
passenger had a heart condition which indicates
that they take heart medication.
Given that Polly is a pharmacist, it can be
concluded that they has the codeine because that
is a prescription controlled drug and they have a
large quantity of these tablets.
Archie is addicted to sugar free drinks so given
that, It makes sense that they would also have the
artificial sweetener to aid with their addiction
1
C8H8O3 ,
C7H8N4O2
2
C3H5N3O9
Nitroglycerine
3
C18H21NO3
Codeine
Polly
Pillcounte
r
4
C14H18N2O5
Archie
Givengrad
es
5
C17H21NO4
(Aspartame)Arti
ficial
sweetener
Cocaine
6
C10H13N
C21H22N2O2
Dimetacrine
7
C9H8O4C8H9NO2
Pain killer; Pain
killer (tylenol)
Iselle
Ubye
8
C7H5N3O6
C40H44N4O
Explosive
(TNT-dynamite)
;Poison
Norm
Anderson
Redd D.
Tocroak
Threwit
Allaway
Ivanna
Bedown
Due to Threwit Allaway’s history for doing illegal
drugs, we can safely assume that he would be the
passenger that has brought the cocaine onto the
plane.
Ivanna suffers from severe depression which
rationalises her possession of the antidepressant
Dimetacrine
Iselle Ubye is a suspected drug dealer that has
boarded the plane. We have reason to believe
that she is the owner of the Asprin and the
Acetaminophen due to the suspicion of her dealing
drugs.
Norm Anderson is likely the leader to a terrorist
organization. This could be used as evidence that
he would have brought TNT onto the plane.
5. After calculating the empirical formulas of each of the 12 compounds, compare the empirical formula you find for
each substance to the empirical formulas listed in table 1. Use this information to identify the 12 compounds found
in/on each passenger and add the empirical formulas and names of the compounds to the table in your lab notebook.
6. Use the information in table 3 and your data table to identify each passenger based on the notes you have about that
passenger. Make sure you pay attention to where each compound was found on each passenger – whether they were
THE STRANGE CASE OF MOLE AIRLINES FLIGHT 1023
carrying it with them or had it in their blood/stomach. This can help you narrow down the possibilities. Fill in the
name of the person and the explanation for how you identified that person in the table in your lab notebook.
7. Identify the compound found at the crash site using the empirical formula you calculated. Use the information in your
data table to identify which passenger was murdered before the plane crash and who the murderer was. Write a
conclusion paragraph that explains what happened and how you know (Who was murdered? Who was the murderer?
How was the person killed?What substance caused the plane crash? How did the data you were given help you answer
all of these questions?)
Some available resources to present your final writeup
Microsoft Publisher
Piktochart
Google slides
Canva