Revealing Fingerprints With Silver Nitrate
Another Method from the same chemistry book.
Weigh 0.3 grams of AgNO3.
And pour it into 10ml of distilled water.
I sprayed it and I shone it with an LED lamp (a UV lamp is better).
Now I got this:
I didn’t know why it was a line like that, but it worked.
I didn’t find any other fingerprints and the fingerprint that I have is hard to see.
Well, this experiment is considered as a fail. I rather use the iodine fuming method that I used the last time. The silver nitrate reacts to the salt on the fingerprint and produces silver chloride, just like on the skin.
Danupon Drake 
Really?!? I thought that I wasn’t smart at all….
Ha wrong! You are very smart!
🙂
That’s so true 😀
because you learn from your mistakes. Thank you Robyn.
Thank you but that wasn’t me…. I had to google that…
Ah yes a UV light would give quite a different image.
And a surprising number of things have been discovered quite by accident, by people doing experiments and looking for something else! 🙂
I really like the way you experiment to answer your enquiring mind Dan. Trial and error are the greatest teachers
You are so smart!!
I think the problem is the lamp. I used a regular LED lamp, but UV lights are better. I can use sunlight but since it rainy everyday, no sunlight. And you’re right, trial and error. You just need to find the problem, fix it, and the experiment will work 🙂 Thanks for teaching me 😀 That’s why it’s “experiment”.
They use a special powder called “Fingerprint Powder”. It’s a lot lighter than regular powder and it sticks to liquid better.
Most experiments are trial and error. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t, but either way you learn something. 🙂
Maybe silver nitrate works better with finger prints on glass or something. 🙂
Interesting I wonder what the police use?