Fingerprint Project

Levi Villarreal 2-12-14

Chris Ledbetter B7

Fingerprint Project Levi Villarreal 2-12-14 B7 Introduction This project aims to show relationships between fingerprints. I explore the relationships and correlations between age, sex and race pertaining to fingerprints. To do this I used fingerprint data given from 29 participants with ages ranging from 82 to 9, as well as different races and genders. Hypothesis I believed that age, race and gender wouldnt affect fingerprints, but that fingerprints within families would be similar. Procedure To accomplish this experiment, I got fingerprints using graphite to press onto strips of tape. Afterwards, I compiled a database also using other peoples fingerprints to make the final results more broad and accurate. Graphite Print

Number of fingers
20 15 10 5 Left Leaning Right Leaning Whorl Double Loop Double Loop Plain Arch Tented Arch Arch with 0 Number of fingers

Results Although my hypothesis wasnt correct, I found many relationships between fingerprints. Types of fingerprints In my testing, I found that the right leaning loop was by far the most common type of fingerprint, with the least being Double Loop and arch with loop and scar. Age In most of the participants in my

experiment, the older people tended to have much more scars on their fingers than the younger people did. I believe that this is because their life, they are bound to get scars on their hands. Gender In the research that I did, the variety of fingerprints was mostly spread out between genders and I saw no correlation between gender and fingerprints. Race

as people go on with 48 yr. old male

Female Print Because of my limited resources, I was only able to collect significant data on Mexicans and Caucasians. While there werent many similarities between Caucasians, most Mexicans had one print that was a left or right leaning loop. I believe that this is because Hispanic Print Caucasians are usually a mixture of several different races.

Family Due to heredity, fingerprints between families were often similar if not exactly the same. That is because parents pass on their traits to their children which includes genetic information about fingerprints. Mom Sister Brother Sister Me

Whorl Left leaning loop Double Loop w/ Central Pocket Right Leaning Loop Right Leaning Loop

Relationship to Real-World Techniques like the ones that I used in this experiment can be used in real life. In jobs like fingerprint technicians, people can collect fingerprints, which will later be analyzed in a lab. Fingerprint Technicians will lift a copy of a fingerprint from a scene and will math that to prints already in a database. Their work helps to identify criminals, as well as victims of crime, and those that are injured or killed in accidents. Conclusion With the data that I used I found that age and family affected your fingerprint the most, while gender and race didnt have as much of an impact. It was interesting to examine different relationships and see how genetics play a huge role in fingerprinting.

Work cited: (http://www.becomeopedia.com/how-to/become-a-fingerprint-technician.php)