Are you a fab forenso? Try our quiz

1. ‘Every contact leaves a trace’. This is an expression of:
– The Transfer Law
– Locard’s Principle
– The Forensic Foundation Hypothesis

2. SOCO stands for:
– Superintendent of Crime Officials
– Statutory Official Crimefighting Organisation
– Scene of Crime Officer

3. The method of examining a crime scene in which individuals are given responsibility for searching particular areas is referred to as:
– zone searching
– specified searching
– restricted searching

4. When first introduced by the police in the UK, fingerprints were used to:
– check whether or not financial documents were genuine
– check the identity of people being questioned
– investigate murders

5. Fingerprints which cannot be seen by direct observation of a surface but which can be revealed using powders are referred to as:
– background prints
– black prints
– latent prints

6. The fingerprint type encountered most infrequently is the:
– loop
– arch
– whorl

7. The test which is used to determine whether or not blood is human blood is the:
– precipitin test
– haemoglobin test
– plasma test

8. When a strong force is applied to liquid blood causing a number of very small blood droplets to be ejected, the blood is said to have been:
– splattered
– spattered
– shattered

9. The technique most commonly used to record footwear marks at crime scenes is:
– photography
– electrostatic dust lifting
– making plaster casts

10. Footwear mark evidence can be very strong because:
– plaster casts of impressed marks can sometimes be made
– marks in blood can be enhanced using chemicals
– unusual features of damage can be found on footwear undersurfaces

11. DNA stands for
– deoxyribonitrogenous allele
– deoxyribonucleic acid
– deoxyribonucleobase acetate

12. The technique of analysis whose use allows small DNA segments to be separated according to their size to produce a ‘DNA profile’ is:
– fragmentary bio sieving
– electrophoresis
– column chromatography

13. The first criminal conviction of a person based on DNA evidence occurred in the UK in:
– 1986
– 1987
– 1988

14. A compound microscope is one which:
– has two types of lens – objective and eyepiece – which are used in conjunction to produce an image
– is constructed of twenty components or more
– is used to examine chemical materials

15. A stereo microscope is a one which:

– incorporates two earpieces used to test the reflectance of sound
– has two separate light paths, one for each eye, providing a three dimensional effect in an image
– has two microscopes side by side allowing two specimens to be compared with the images next to each other

16. A property of glass frequently measured to discriminate between different glass objects is:
– infra-red absorbance
– micro hardness
– refractive index

17. The feature of a chip of paint that gives rise to the strongest evidence is:
– the top-coat colour
– the type of pigment
– the structure of the layers

18. An analysis technique commonly used to determine whether or not debris from a fire contains an accelerant such as petrol or paraffin is:
– gas chromatography
– ultrasound analysis
– xray diffraction

19. The process of copying the data on a computer hard drive so that it can be examined without affecting the original data is termed:
– bit-by-bit transcription
– securitisation
– imaging

20. ‘The chance that the DNA at the crime scene came from a person other than the accused is one in a very large number’. Forensic scientists are able correctly to state an opinion of this type:
– sometimes
– always
– never

Answers at the bottom of the Feedback page


To improve your knowledge of forensic science you can purchase two books by Simon Shawcross of Sci-High:

How to be a Forensic Scientist –  for pupils age 8 to 12

To purchase the book from Amazon, please follow this link.

Crime Scene Investigation – for students age 15 to 18.

To purchase the paperback book from Amazon, please follow this link.

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