Fingerprints
By: Fisher Chu and Emily Glewwe
6th Grade Science
Yinghua Academy
Purpose
Hypothesis
Our science project's
purpose is to find out
if fingerprints are
inherited from your
parents and to see if
twins actually share
100% of their DNA.
Since a person's DNA
is genetically related
to their parents, our
hypothesis is that that
their fingerprints will
be similar.
Materials
-Magnifying Glass
-White Paper
-Black Ink
Fun Facts:
-Identical twins share 100% of their DNA.
-No 2 fingerprints are the same!
-There are three kind of fingerprints: whorl, arch, and loop.
-When a teacher gets their teaching licence, they must get
fingerprinted by the government.
-Your child can be fingerprinted by the police so if they go
missing, they can be identified later.
Our Data
Test Subjects:
From our Data:
Arch 37.5%
Loop 25%
Whorl 37.5%
Procedure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Put test subject's finger in ink.
Roll inked finger onto white paper.
Take fingerprints of a parent and her/his child.
Repeat steps 1-3 at least 3 times.
Examine each fingerprint using your magnifying glass
and characterize it as a whorl, arch, or loop pattern.
Fingerprint Research
-Fingerprints have helped governments identify criminals for over a hundred
years.
- Marcello Malpighi noticed finger ridges in 1686 but did not say anything
about how they could be useful.
-A long time ago in Babylon, fingerprints were printed onto clay tablets for
business transactions.
-Fingers have ridges so they can grip things better.
-The most common fingerprint pattern is loop and 60%-70% of people have it.
As for whorl, 25-35% of people have this pattern. Last but not least, only 5% of
people have the arch fingerprint pattern.
Conclusion
Our conclusion is that you do inherit your
fingerprint patterns from your parents because
their DNA is part of your own genetic makeup.
From our collected data we've also concluded
that if parents' patterns are different from each
other and they have more than one child, then
it is possible for the children to inherit their
fingerprint pattern from either parent.
Sources
-http://www.aladdinusa.
com/documentationservices/fingerhistory.htm
-http://onin.com/fp/fphistory.html
-http://www.twincities.
com/localnews/ci_20102181
-http://www.odec.
ca/projects/2004/fren4j0/public_html/fingerp
rint_patterns.htm
-Norell, Keri. Interview. 5-25-12
Presentation Board