Composition
Modern fingerprint powders have a variety of compositions, and are often a matter of personal choice by the expert using them or down to the standard procedure of the department or agency. Many agencies use proprietary powders produced by independent companies, and so the exact formulation of these powders is not revealed.
Some surfaces, such as organic ones, do not take to fingerprint powders at all and use of alternate methods is necessary. Other media, such as certain types of glue, can be "smoked" over these surfaces with fair results.
Historically, Lycopodium powder, the spores of Lycopodium and related plants, was used as a fingerprint powder.
Read more about this topic: Fingerprint Powder
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“Give a scientist a problem and he will probably provide a solution; historians and sociologists, by contrast, can offer only opinions. Ask a dozen chemists the composition of an organic compound such as methane, and within a short time all twelve will have come up with the same solution of CH4. Ask, however, a dozen economists or sociologists to provide policies to reduce unemployment or the level of crime and twelve widely differing opinions are likely to be offered.”
—Derek Gjertsen, British scientist, author. Science and Philosophy: Past and Present, ch. 3, Penguin (1989)
“The composition of a tragedy requires testicles.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
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