Wiktionary
n. (context organic compound English) A chemical that exhibits blue chemiluminescence when mixed with an appropriate oxidizing agent, molecular formula C8H7N3O2.
Wikipedia
Luminol (CHNO) is a chemical that exhibits chemiluminescence, with a blue glow, when mixed with an appropriate oxidizing agent. Luminol is a white-to-pale-yellow crystalline solid that is soluble in most polar organic solvents, but insoluble in water.
Forensic investigators use luminol to detect trace amounts of blood at crime scenes, as it reacts with the iron in haemoglobin. Biologists use it in cellular assays to detect copper, iron, and cyanides, as well as specific proteins by western blot.
When luminol is sprayed evenly across an area, trace amounts of an activating oxidant make the luminol emit a blue glow that can be seen in a darkened room. The glow only lasts about 30 seconds, but investigators can document the effect with a long-exposure photograph. Crime scene investigators must apply it evenly to avoid misleading results, as blood traces appear more concentrated in areas that receive more spray. The intensity of the glow does not indicate the amount of blood or other activator present, but only shows the distribution of trace amounts of in the area.
Usage examples of "luminol".
With the luminol sprayed over the cockpit, Warrick turned on the UV light source.
She removes vials of sodium perborate, sodium carbonate and luminol, mixes them with distilled water in a container, shakes it and transfers the solution into a black pump spray bottle.
Scarpetta starts by spraying luminol on a control sample of blood, a single dried drop on a square of cardboard, and it glows greenish-blue and fades.
She takes more context photographs, these of wooden shelving, cuts the lights and this time the luminol reacts differently.
Scarpetta gets out a presumptive blood kit and swabs areas of the wall where she saw the luminol react, working the cotton tip into the porous concrete where blood might lurk, even after washing.
They close all the blinds in the house and put on their protective disposable clothing, then Lucy sets up the tripod, attaches the camera and the cable release, while Lex mixes up the luminol and transfers it to a black pump spray bottle.
Lucy starts spraying in wide sweeps over the yard, walking and spraying and the grass glows bluish-green, glowing and fading like an eerie luminescent ocean everywhere the luminol touches.
They sprayed Luminol, a product that glows luminescent in the dark in places where it has interacted with blood.
But blood is not so easily obliterated, and were they to darken the room and spray with luminol, the floor would still cry with blood, its chemical traces embedded too deeply into the cracks and grain of the wood to ever be completely erased.
Another was rubbing Luminol on the tile as if it were floor wax, looking for errant blood traces in a sea of red.
A blue glow from the bedroom told him that they were using luminol to search for more blood in there.
This light was no more than a mixture of luminol and sodium hydroxide in water, with potassium ferrocyanide and hydrogen peroxide added.
Howell I think her luminol and Clorox plot has possibilities, will you have dinner with me tonight?
He began his inspection of the dreary sitting room knowing full well that MI5 had been there many times before him, had vacuumed and bagged and logged every microscopic particle, used black light and Luminol on the walls and furniture looking for blood spatter and done as thorough a job as was humanly possible.
Hey, I bet if I walked in with some Luminol I could get your house to light up, too.