Who Poisoned Buzz-Light
Year?
Thanh Nguyen
Disney’s Town Crier part 1
•
What Happened?
– Buzz Light-year was found unconscious during the cookout today. Detectives
have found half of a hotdog, a beaker of clear liquid, a metal (assumed to be the
wrapper), and piles of white powder.
– Apparently, he was very lucky Thanatos, the Greek god of death from Hercules,
was on vacation, so he let Buzz live. The culprit (as soon as we figure out who)
will still be charged of murder.
Forensic scientists are testing the evidence and have shared their data,
unfortunately they still haven’t unraveled the mystery. Although the
uncertainty, they have hypothesized that Ariel, the Little (so called
innocent) Mermaid, poisoned Buzz Light-year. The tests’ data will come
in very soon-if they match the items that she brought, then she is the
culprit, because no one else brought the same combination of items.
Liquids data
All suspects
brought one
of the
following
drinks: pure
water,
rubbing
alcohol,
saltwater,
vinegar,
grape drink,
and
lemonade
with pulp.
Suspected
Liquid
look
density to
water
conductivity
smell
flammability
reactivity to Sodium
Bicarbonate
pure water
clear
water
very high
nothing
no
slight bubble
rubbing
alcohol
clear
less dense
high
slight sting
yes
nothing
translucent
more
dense
very high
nothing
no
slight bubble
vinegar
clear
more
dense
high
slight sting
no
explodes/fizzes
grape
drink
rusty
brown
less dense
high
sweet
no
Creamy fizz
lemonade
with pulp
yellow
less dense
medium
sweet/sour
no
slight bubble
saltwater
Materials and procedures
•
•
•
Materials-welt plate, glass beakers, eye droppers, Sodium Bicarbonate,
conductivity meter, triple-beam-balance, plastic graduated cylinders,
goggles
Lab materials- pure water, rubbing alcohol, saltwater, vinegar, grape drink,
lemonade with pulp
Procedures- Look: The scientists tested the liquids by transparency by
looking through them. Density- They compared density by using pure
water. Conductivity- They used a “conductivity meter” to test conductivity.
Smell- The experts wafted the smell towards my nose knowing that if they
sniffed directly for the liquid, someone could get hurt. Flammability- One of
the scientists set a match on fire and placed it into the liquid. ReactivityAnother poured the liquids into a welt plate and sprinkled in a small amount
of Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda).
Hotdog Wrapping Data
•
All suspects
brought one
of the
following
wrappers:
plastic,
aluminum,
zinc,
copper, iron,
and sulfur.
Suspect
Wrappers
Malleability
Density
(compared to
water)
Appearance
(transparency)
Conductivity
reactivity
Plastic
Yes
Less
Translucent
purple
medium
No reaction
Aluminum
Yes
More
Opaque
silver
high
No reaction
Zinc
Yes
More
Opaque
silver
high
No reaction
Copper
Yes
More
Opaque
orange
Very high
Slight discoloring
Eating around the
sides
Iron
Yes
More
Opaque
silver
high
bubbles
Sulfur
No
More
Opaque
Mustard yellow
medium
No reaction
Materials and procedures
•
•
•
Materials-welt plate, eye droppers, conductivity meter, plastic graduated
cylinders, tweezers, goggles
Lab Materials-plastic, aluminum, zinc, copper, iron, sulfur
Procedures-Malleability: The scientists tried to bend the wrappers.
Density: They dropped the wrappers one at a time into a plastic graduated
cylinder and observed if they floated or sank. Appearance: They more
inexperienced tested color and transparency. Conductivity: Some poked
the wrappers with a conductivity meter and observed the readings.
Reactivity: The more careful ones used an eye dropper to drop a chemical
onto the wrappers.
Powder Data
•
All suspects
brought one of
the following
powders:
Sucrose,
Baking soda,
Sodium
Polyacrylate,
Sodium
Chloride, and
Asorbic Acid
Suspect Powder
Melt able
Solubility
Conductivity
Reactivity
(towards
vinegar)
Flammability
Sucrose
Yes
yes
None
No
No
Baking Soda
No
Yes
High
Fizzes loudly
No
Sodium
Polyacrylate
No
No absorbs water
and expands
extremely rapidly
Low
Absorbs vinegar
No
Sodium Chloride
No
Yes
Very high
No
No
Absorbic Acid
Yes
Yes
Medium
No
No
Materials and procedures
•
•
•
Materials-welt plate, eye droppers, conductivity meter, hot plates, glass
beakers, vinegar
Lab Materials-sucrose, baking soda, sodium polyacrylate, sodium chloride,
absorbic acid
Procedures- Melt able: The scientists placed the powders on hot plates to
approximately 180°F and observed if they melted or burned. Solubility:
They poured a small amount of water onto the powder and stirred.
Conductivity: First they tested solubility and then inserted the conductivity
meter into the mixtures. Reactivity: They placed some powder onto the
welt plate and poured vinegar on the powders. Flammability: The sober
ones lit a match on fire and carefully placed it onto the powder.
Hot Dog Data
•
All suspects
brought one of the
following hot dogs:
pork, light pork,
and 98% fat free.
Suspect Hot
Dogs
Density
(compared to
water)
Conductivity
Pre-squeeze
mass
Post-squeeze
mass
Reactivity
(towards
iodine)
Pork
More
Very high
10
10
Turns
black/brown
Light pork
More
High
11
11
Turns yellow
98% fat free
More
Very high
11
11
Turns
black/brown
Materials and procedures
•
•
•
Materials-iodine, tweezers, welt plate, triple beam balance
Lab materials-pork hot dogs, light pork hot dogs, 98% fat free hot dogs
Procedures- Density: The math addicts dropped the hot dogs into water to
see if they floated or sank. Conductivity: Some inserted the conductivity
meter into the hot dog and read the recordings Post squeeze mass: The
curious scientists checked the mass of the hot dogs before the reckless
squeezed them. Post squeezed mass: They squeezed the hot dogs with
their bare hands and checked the mass again. According the Law of Mass
Conservation, the mass should have stayed the same.
Crime Scene Items
Now that
we have
tested all
of the
items the
suspects
brought,
we can
test the
crime
scene
items for
a match.
Crime
scene
liquid:
water
color
Density
compared
to water
conductivity
smell
flammability
Reactivity
towards
baking soda
Crime
scene
liquid
clear
mixes
high
nothing
no
Slight bubble
Crime scene
wrapper:
Malleability
Density
compared to
water
appearance
conductivity
Reactivity
Crime scene
wrap
yes
more
Opaque
silver
Very high
no
Crime scene
hot dog:
Pork hot dog
Density
compared to
water
conductivity
Presqueezed
mass
Post squeez
ed
mass
Reactivity
towards
iodine
Crime scene
hot dog
More dense
high
10
10
Turns
black/brown
Crime scene
powder:
Absorbic
acid
Crime scene
powder
World’s longest
hot dog
Melt
able
solubility
conductivity
reactivity
flammability
yes
medium
no
no
liquid
wrapper
Hot dog
power
Pure water
zinc
Fat free
Absorbic acid
Disney’s Town Crier part 2
– Ariel regained her title as “The Little Innocent Mermaid”. The forensic scientists’
hypothesis was incorrect; Ariel was innocent and the Wicked Witch was the
culprit. The Wicked witch was arrested and will be trialed in Disneyland in
Huckleberry Fin’s town square as soon as Buzz Light-year regains
consciousness. Even though some of the evidence was destroyed as the witch
tried to ruin it and run away, scientists researched hard on the remains and
caught her red handed-literally. She was cooking up a fresh batch of poison in
her basement.
– The scientists claimed that they did not have enough time and some of the
evidence (mainly the wrappers) was destroyed. Also, the tests were only tried a
couple times in the time length of 45 minutes each. They also had help on zinc
from a wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc