ETX 20 Lecture Notes - Sulfur, Accelerant, Boiling Point
Document Summary
Arson: a burning question or keeping up with the dogs. The most common question: they bring a can of debris and ask if there is any ignitable liquid in the debris. Analyzing things, aid in reconstruction, linking people and places together. Passive headspace (charcoal strip) is standard method today. Other methods: dynamic heaspace, spme, headspace sampling, solvent exraction. Solvent phase micro extraction exposes the fiber to solvent and there are issues with sensitivity. Overcooking misses light ends, under may miss heavy ends. Charcoal lighter: no sulpher not real petroleum dissalents any more. 7 majors classifications divided by boiling point range plus automotive casoline for 21. Background coming from urned substrate means you can"t detect it hoping bad guys don"t detect p 85 but it is more expensive. Accelerant is defined as a substance deliberately added to drive the fire. Cannot tell whether the volatiles detected really was an accelerant.