Scheduled Maintenance: Our website will be unavailable starting Friday, April 10 at 5:00 PM CST and will be back online Monday, April 13 at 6:00 AM CST. We appreciate your patience.
The Presumptive Blood Test Forensics Demonstration Kit utilizes a simulation of the Kastle-Meyer Color Test and can be safely used in a mock crime scene investigation.
This kit utilizes a simulation of the Kastle–Meyer Color Test and can be safely used in a mock crime scene investigation. The Kastle–Meyer Color Test is often used by crime scene investigators to presumptively indicate if blood is present on an object. For this activity, objects in your crime scene can be “seeded” to provide positive color tests for “simulated blood” when sprayed with the phenophthalein test solution. The test is fast and easy and is thus ideal for use in the first moments at a crime scene. Crime scene investigators like this test even if the results are only “presumptive” and not considered hard proof. The presumptive tests can often lead investigators in the right direction to search for additional proof. The kit contains enough materials to conduct many simulated Kastle–Meyer Color Tests on crime scene items. Comes complete with teacher background and directions.
Concepts: Presumptive test, oxidation.
Time Required: 15 minutes
Materials Provided: Phenolphthalein solution, spray bottle, cotton cloth, filter paper, simulated blood plasma.
Correlation to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Science & Engineering Practices
Developing and using models Analyzing and interpreting data
Disciplinary Core Ideas
MS-PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter MS-PS1.B: Chemical Reactions HS-PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter HS-PS1.B: Chemical Reactions