Explain how a crime lab could use paper chromatography to determine if lipstick found at a crime scene matched the lipstick of a
suspect.
1 answer:
Explanation:
The lipstick from the crime would be crushed and dissolved in an appropriate liquid solvent. The lipstick would then be placed in one of the ink spots on the starting / base line of the paper. Another spot would be created for the lipstick with which it is being compared with.
The paper chromatogram would then be placed vertically on a solvent that acts as the mobile phase. After some time, when the solvent reaches the solvent front of the paper chromatography, by capillary action, the chromatogram can be removed and left to dry.
Bands will have appeared on the chromatography paper formed from the different components of the lipstick. The bands of the lipstick from the crime scene and that with which it is being compared to are observed. If the bands are all aligned, horizontally, then this means it is a complete match. The lipstick must have been the same used at the crime scene.
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