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

saltwater translucentmore dense very high nothing no slight bubble

vinegar clearmore 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

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. Reactivity- Another 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 powder: Absorbic acid

Melt able

solubility conductivity reactivity flammability

Crime scene powder

yes medium no no

Crime scene hot dog: Pork hot dog

Density compared to water

conductivity Pre-squeezed mass

Post -squeezed mass

Reactivity towards iodine

Crime scene hot dog

More dense high 10 10 Turns black/brown

liquid wrapper Hot dog power

Pure water zinc Fat free Absorbic acid

World’s longest hot dog

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