Chemistry CSI

We did an activity in class today that I thought was creative, so I wanted to share!  A past teacher had found it, and it was tucked away in a folder in my classroom.  To continue with unit on moles, dimensional analysis, and stoichiometry, today's lesson was on empirical formulas (the lowest ratio of elements in a compound).  After teaching students how to calculate empirical formulas, they were put in groups to solve a mystery.  In short, Mole Airlines flight 1023 (get it??) crashed recently.  At the scene, passengers couldn't be identified, but first responders were able to collect samples and find compounds on a series of people.  My students were to use the percent compositions of the compounds to determine the empirical formula.  They had a list of corresponding compounds and passengers (i.e. the body who had aspartame in the blood belonged to a teacher who was addicted to diet soda.)  Students identified passengers.  Before the plane crashed, one passenger mas murdered by another.  Students also found formulas of poison to determine the victim and the killer.  It was not a good day for Flight 1023.  Students seemed to really enjoy this activity, especially being able to work in teams to solve a puzzle.  It was a cool forensics tie-in to break up the monotony of solving math problems!