Students burn fabrics over bunsen burner for forensics class

The bunsen burners were all fired up in T.C. Roberson’s forensics lab classroom for a unique hands on lesson. In Lori Galbert’s Forensics class, students learned how to identify unknown fiber evidence left at a crime scene by analyzing the way it burned. Cloth, for instance, burns quicker and more completely than Rayon or Silk, and via a burn test one can determine what type of fabric a suspect may have been wearing. 

“The last few weeks, we’ve focused on the basic steps of crime scene analysis,” said Ms. Galbert. “This is the lab where they get to put that into practice.”

Carefully, using tongs, students burnt various types of fabric one after the other and placed the ashes on a card, identifying each type. Finally, Ms. Galbert went around with a small piece of pink fabric, of unknown composition - “the evidence.” The students concluded that the perp was wearing a type of cotton cloth. 

“I love this class,” said student Sabree Perry. “Ms. Galbert is an amazing teacher. The burn test was really cool, and I’m glad she trusted us to do it. We were able to do that, you know, in a safe environment and learn a lot.” 

The burn test is one of many hands-on lessons in the class that will culminate in a full, mock crime scene investigation at the end of the semester.