Well, being a project for forensics, you'd probably want to look into the fuels generally used in cases of Arson. You would then analyze the remnants on an NMR and/or a GC/MS to see traces of whatever fuel was used to start the fire. You're best bet would then be to use substances that are readily available to a criminal. Things like acetone, gasoline, mineral spirits, paint solvents, or various other 'chemical' products you would purchase at a hardware store or auto parts store are what a typical arsonist would use. These 'fuels' would also leave a pretty typical signature that can be seen on NMR and GC/MS machines. You could do a series of tests where you would take a small amount of each fuel and use it to burn different pieces of a large sheet of plywood. (This way your 'combustable' would be the same throughout and provide a standard for you). After each piece has been burned, you would collect the ashes/remnants and store it in a tightly sealed, labelled container. For each fuel, you would run the unburnt fuel through an NMR and GC/MS to get the spectra of the unburnt product as a standard, then you would run the tests on the burnt plywood remnants and try and compare the burnt and unburnt spectra of each fuel.
Other compounds you could use for this would be explosive materials, but the licenses you would need to acquire the materials and the dangers involved with the detonations really aren't something that people outside of the industry should be doing.
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Topic: Fuels (Read 8205 times)