Name: Date:

A POOL OF YELLOW EVIDENCE: A prac on Urinalysis

Objectives: You will perform analytical tests on three urine samples. You will evaluate the results of these tests as clues in solving a crime. Background Information: Officers Chan and Langley receive a call from their dispatch officer to proceed to 3230 Lexington Street. They are needed to help investigate a crime scene. A man has been murdered, and police are looking for clues. On the scene, Chan and Langley find the new widow, Mrs. Davis, sitting with an officer who arrived earlier. This officer is comforting Mrs. Davis and trying to help her understand the crime scene. Things look a little strange, and the police cannot determine what happened. It appears that Mr. Davis died following a blow to his head. A crowbar is found a few feet from the body. Because the investigative team has already examined the deceased and most of the crime scene, Mr. Davis' body is being removed. Mrs. Davis found him lying on the kitchen floor when she came home from the grocery store. The cellar door was standing open, as if Mr. Davis had started to go down to the storage room. She immediately called 911, then waited with her dead husband until help arrived. Detective Larson is in charge of the scene, and he meets Chan and Langley when they arrive. "OK, here's what we know. Mr. Davis was hit on the back of the head with a heavy instrument. He was dead when his wife got home. We need to figure out what he was doing, and what happened that caused his death. I've got one team on the main floor, one outside in the yard, and I want you two to check out the cellar." Putting on rubber gloves so they won't leave their fingerprints, the two officers turn on the cellar light and proceed down the stairs. Each carries a pen and pad for notes, as well as a flash light. Nothing in the cellar looks suspicious. Everything is tidy and neatly stacked on shelves. An old mattress is standing up against one wall, and jars of home-canned jams are sitting on the shelves. Chan and Langley probe deeper, looking behind and under things. "Hey, check this out, Chan. Broken glass is pushed behind this box, like someone tried to hide it." Langley is shining his light into a dark corner. Chan raises her head to answer, then lifts a two litre jar of yellow liquid from the floor. "Yeah, well look at this stuff. I'm not sure what it is, but it smells pretty bad. I think it's urine." "Urine, huh? There's a lot of it. Maybe the murderer hid down here in the cellar for a few days. I think this broken glass is the same kind used in those canning jars on the shelf. It looks like the Davises have had a visitor." Chan and Langley call Detective Larson down and show him what they found. He wants the urine and broken glass sent to the forensic lab immediately. "If we get a suspect, we can use these fingerprints on the glass and this urine to help identify him as someone who was on the scene. Great work!" Materials: Beaker A containing urine sample from cellar Beaker B containing one suspect's urine sample Beaker C containing another suspect's urine sample Hydrometer

pH paper Centrifuge Test tubes Beakers Hot plate Benedict's solution

Procedure: 1. Examine the three urine samples. In the Data Table, record their odour, colour (yellow, amber, gold, etc.) and clarity (clear, cloudy, etc.). 2. Determine the specific gravity of each urine sample. Specific gravity of a liquid is a comparison of that liquid's mass to the mass of an equal volume of water at the same temperature. The specific gravity of a liquid depends on the components of that liquid. For example, adding salt to water increases its specific gravity. a. Remove the hydrometer from its cylinder and empty the water. Fill the hydrometer cylinder three-quarters full of the urine sample A. b. Pour some of this same urine sample in a beaker. With a spinning motion, float the hydrometer in the beaker of urine. (Do not let the hydrometer lean against the sides of the beaker.) c. When the hydrometer stops spinning, read the specific gravity at the bottom of the meniscus formed on the hydrometer column. Record this specific gravity on the Data Table. d. Pour the sample A urine back into the appropriate beaker. e. Repeat step 2 with samples B and C. 3. Dip a small piece of pH test paper into sample A. Compare the colour of the paper with the colour standards on the pH test paper container. Record the pH of the urine on the Data Table. Repeat this procedure with the other two samples of suspects' urine. 4. Test each urine sample for albumin, a protein, by following this procedure: a. Centrifuge test tubes of all three urine samples. b. Observe the clarity (clear, cloudy, etc.) of supernatant A. c. Pour supernatant A into two test tubes (see Figure 1.). Label both test tubes as A. Set one aside.

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Figure 1. Pour half of the supernatant into another test tube.

d. Place the other test tube of supernatant A into a hot water bath (see Figure 2.) and warm for several minutes. e. Compare the clarity of the supernatant after heating to its original clarity. If cloudiness increases when the sample was heated, then albumin is present. f. Repeat this procedure with suspect supernatant samples B and C. 5. Test each sample of supernatant for glucose: a. Add 10 drops of Benedict's solution to each of the remaining three test tubes of supernatant. b. Add 10 drops of Benedict's solution to a test tube of water. c. Place all four test tubes in a hot water bath. After several minutes, observe their colour. If the Benedict's solution changes from blue to yellow or gold colour, then glucose is present in the urine.

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Figure 2. Place a sample of supernatant A into a hot water bath. DATA TABLE: Lab results on three urine samples. Sample A. Cellar Sample B. Suspect 1 C. Suspect 2 Specific Gravity pH Albumen (yes or no) Glucose (yes or no)

Discussion/Conclusion: 1. Did sample A have the same characteristics of either of the suspect samples? If your answer is yes, what does that mean about the suspect samples? If your answer is no, what does that mean about the suspect samples?

2. What is the average pH of all three urine samples? (To determine an average, add all of the pH ratings, then divide them by 3.)

3. Why does glucose accumulate in the urine of diabetics?

4. Do you think a urinalysis can be used to definitely link someone to a crime scene? Why or why not?