Paraffin test
The paraffin test is a forensic detection method for nitrate and nitrite traces , which usually remain on the shooter's hands when a firearm is fired . For this purpose, liquid paraffin is placed on the suspect's hand and removed from the skin after it has solidified, whereupon a chemical detection of nitrate can take place, for example by forming a dye with diphenylamine .
The nitrate often contained in gunpowder (e.g. black powder ) is partially released by the explosion reaction and can be detected as a trace of smoke on the shooter's hand . The absence of such a trace can help uncover a fake suicide .
Individual evidence
- ^ Suzanne Bell, Forensic Chemistry, 2nd ed., Pearson Education Ltd, Essex, 2014, p. 442