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 Liquidlook density to waterconductivitysmellflammability reactivity to Sodium Bicarbonate pure water clearwatervery highnothingnoslight bubble rubbing alcohol clearless densehighslight stingyesnothing saltwater translucent more densevery highnothingnoslight bubble vinegar clear more densehighslight stingnoexplodes/fizzes grape drink rusty brownless densehighsweetnoCreamy fizz lemonade with pulp yellowless densemediumsweet/sournoslight 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 MalleabilityDensity (compared to water) Appearance (transparency) Conductivityreactivity PlasticYesLessTranslucent purple mediumNo reaction AluminumYesMoreOpaque silver highNo reaction ZincYesMoreOpaque silver highNo reaction CopperYesMoreOpaque orange Very highSlight discoloring Eating around the sides IronYesMoreOpaque silver highbubbles SulfurNoMoreOpaque Mustard yellow mediumNo 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 PowderMelt ableSolubilityConductivityReactivity (towards vinegar) Flammability SucroseYesyesNoneNo Baking SodaNoYesHighFizzes loudlyNo Sodium Polyacrylate NoNo absorbs water and expands extremely rapidly LowAbsorbs vinegarNo Sodium ChlorideNoYesVery highNo Absorbic AcidYes MediumNo

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) ConductivityPre-squeeze mass Post-squeeze mass Reactivity (towards iodine) PorkMoreVery high10 Turns black/brown Light porkMoreHigh11 Turns yellow 98% fat freeMoreVery high11 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 colorDensity compared to water conductivitysmellflammabilityReactivity towards baking soda Crime scene liquid clearmixeshighnothingnoSlight bubble Crime scene wrapper: MalleabilityDensity compared to water appearanceconductivityReactivity Crime scene wrap yesmoreOpaque silver Very highno

Crime scene powder: Absorbic acid Melt able solubilityconductivityreactivityflammability Crime scene powder yesmediumno Crime scene hot dog: Pork hot dog Density compared to water conductivityPre- squeezed mass Post - squeez ed mass Reactivity towards iodine Crime scene hot dog More densehigh10 Turns black/brown liquidwrapperHot dogpower Pure waterzincFat freeAbsorbic 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.