FINGERPRINTING
By: Angeli Smith
What the heck is a fingerprint??
If you look down to your finger tips, you will see little impressions. They are your own, no one else has the same ones as you. This information is what forensic scientists use to identify individuals. Fingerprints have general characteristics called ridges. The study of fingerprinting is called dactyloscopy. There are 3 different types of fingerprint patterns :
More about types of fingerprints
Arch
The first one is the arch, they are the simplest type of fingerprint. They are formed by two ridges moving to the center and acting as a hill. That's the plain arch. They can also be more dramatic, taller, wider arch. They look like nubby porcupine spikes. That's what the second type is called, spikes!
Loop
The loop looks exactly like its name - it's a loop. It goes up at an angle, then takes a u turn and comes right back to where it came from. There's 4 different types of loop, left radial loop, right radial loop, left ulnar loop, and right ulnar loop. They look a little bit like waves in the ocean.
Whorl
Last but not least is the whorl. There are many different types. A whorl usually has a little dot I'm the middle, and then many ridges to surround it, but in a circle. These fingerprints tend to make a complete circuit. If you were to fly up really high and look down at a tornado or hurricane, it would look similar to a whorl.
Did you know??
- Its a 1 in 5 billion % chance that you will have the same fingerprint at someone else.
- 60% of people have loops, 35% have whorls, and 5% have arches
- the purpose of the fingerprint is to help grasp objects
- fingerprint patterns form because of pressure on the baby's fingers in the womb
- 60% of people have loops, 35% have whorls, and 5% have arches
- the purpose of the fingerprint is to help grasp objects
- fingerprint patterns form because of pressure on the baby's fingers in the womb