Arson Accelerant Analysis by Attenuated Total Reflectance Spectroscopy

 
 
 
 

Arson Accelerant Analysis by Attenuated Total Reflectance Spectroscopy

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dc.contributor.advisor Mincey, Daryl W. en_US
dc.contributor.author Ray, Stephen P. en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2008-06-30T15:37:01Z
dc.date.available 2008-06-30T15:37:01Z
dc.date.created 1998 en_US
dc.date.issued 2008-06-30T15:37:01Z
dc.identifier.uri http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu997554724 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2374.OX/3010
dc.description Arson is a serious problem both locally and nationally. In 1994, the National Fire Protection Association reported over 100,000 arson fires with over $1.2 billion in damages and 550 deaths. Locally, in 1996, Youngstown had 326 arson fires with almost $4.0 million in damages and five deaths. Often these fires are accelerated by flammable materials. Organic, petroleum-based, non-water soluble solvents, such as gasoline, can be detected at very low concentrations after an intense fire by several well developed techniques. However, water soluble solvents, such as methyl (wood), ethyl (grain), and isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol have proven to be difficult to analyze. Not only does the water used to extinguish the fire wash away the accelerant by convection, it also disperses it by dissolution. Additionally, most techniques used for analysis require organic solvents to dissolve the materials to be analyzed. Since the accelerants to be studied are in water, they would need to be extracted with organic solvents reducing their concentration further. Attenuated Total Reflectance Spectroscopy (ATR), a relatively sensitive and selective technique, was used to perform analysis on these water-soluble accelerants. Concentration gradient experiments, time controlled burn experiments, and field-controlled burns were performed with detectability in more than 75% of the samples. Mossst tests were on carpet samples, but some tests were on cloth samples as well. Using ATR has proven to be an ideal way to handle those situations where a water-soluble accelerant needs to be detected. en_US
dc.format application/pdf en_US
dc.format xii, 107p. en_US
dc.rights unrestricted en_US
dc.rights Copyright and permissions information available at the source archive en_US
dc.subject water soluble accelerant en_US
dc.subject Attenuated Total Reflectance en_US
dc.title Arson Accelerant Analysis by Attenuated Total Reflectance Spectroscopy en_US
dc.type Electronic Thesis or Dissertation en_US
dc.degree.name MS en_US
dc.degree.level masters en_US
dc.degree.discipline Chemistry en_US
dc.degree.grantor Youngstown State University en_US
dc.contributor.publisher Youngstown State University / OhioLINK en_US

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