Irreversible and Reversible Change Design Brief

You have been hired by the Western Australian Police Force to investigate a crime scene! An
old, abandoned home was raided on Sunday after police had received multiple calls from
worried neighbours. They broke into to the home to find the people living illegally inside
had escaped! When police forced their way into the house, they were shocked to see so
many things had been ruined. They found that many substances at the crime scene that had
been mixed together by the squatters (*squatter is someone who illegally occupies an
empty house or unused land) to confuse the police when they look for testable evidence.
Some of the things they saw at the site included:
o melted plastic
o burning paper in the lit fireplace
o condensation on the walls in the bathroom
o melted substance in a pot on the stove.

The police detectives have sent through photos to help us investigate the messy evidence.
Your job is to discover what might’ve happened in each scenario before the police arrived,
and what you think the ingredients might be in each scenario. Below is a letter from the
Western Australia Chief of Police outlining his mission for you.

CITY OF PERTH
Police Department
Frank M. Stark, Chief of Police

Dear Students,

It has come to my attention that you will be of assistance in

my latest crime scene investigation. This house raid was
one of the biggest this year and we need your help in
determining which substances were left at the site and
whether we can reverse the damage done to each object.
Please take careful consideration of each external factor
that may have contributed to the change of these
materials.
I look forward to hearing back from you.

Regards,
Frank Stark.
Below are the photos of evidence in four locations of the property. Carefully look at each
photo and see if you can pick what substance might’ve changed in each.

Evidence #1 Condensation Evidence #2 fireplace in backyard

on the bathroom window

Evidence #3 disfigured Evidence #4 white substance on stovetop.

bottles in backyard

The police need to know the following things:

o The name of the substances involved in each change of matter.
o Whether they will be able to reverse the change in a lab to discover what the original
ingredients were.
o If the change of matter involved heat or cooling.
o What the squatters were doing at each evidence point before the house raid.
Once you have sufficient findings you must write a reply letter to the chief of police, Frank
Stark, outlining your predictions regarding the changes of matter in each of the evidence
photos. Frank has also requested that he receives detailed sentences of your thought
processes and reasons for making your decisions.