The Magic Behind Fingerprint Types

Maria Alfaraj

The fingerprint experiment is about finding out if fingerprint pattern types can be impacted by heredity and involve genetics, by comparing sibling fingerprints and examining them to notice any similarities or a reoccurring trend.

Therefore, by the end of the experiment, I’ll be able to know how fingerprint pattern types are dependent on genetics.

Although I don’t know much about my experiment I am aware that fingerprints are permanent and unique, since each person has a different fingerprint that identifies them as a person they’re one of few ways that form a reliable system. Thus, fingerprints are used for important events such as serious crime investigations and court evidence and at the same time are used for simple daily activates like border passing.

I also know that there are 3 basic fingerprint patterns, the first being the loop which is the most common fingerprint type found in 60% of the population where friction ridges enter one side of the print, curve up, around and go back down. Another pattern is the whorl which further includes more types but they’re generally fingerprints with a circular pattern. Lastly, Arches is the rarest fingerprint pattern which also has more types but it is usually described as a waved-like pattern. When it comes to genetics, I know that fingerprints are somehow affected by genetics which tends to create a pattern in the family but I don’t know the scientific reasoning or relationship between heredity and fingerprints.

If we compare fingerprints within a family then a specific pattern in fingerprint types would take place because genetic factors are related to the formation of an individual’s fingerprint type.

Independent: In this experiment genetics are independent because they’re not affected by any factor, instead, they affect the formation of fingerprint types and create a trend within a family.

Dependent: The dependent variables are the type of fingerprints each family member holds as well as the pattern of fingerprint types created within a family because both are determined by genetics

Controlled: The controlled variables are all related to people I’m performing the experiment on because I control the number of fingerprints as well as the people themselves

1. 5 families and 4 members from each to conduct the experiment on

2. blue ink pad: for fingerprint taking

3. A piece of paper: for drawing the table and taking fingerprints

4. Magnifying glass: to examine each fingerprint type

5. Ruler: for drawing the table

6. Pencil: for drawing the table

1. creating an organized chart using a ruler and a pencil to prepare for family fingerprint taking

2. finding a family with 4 siblings (to have extended data that is not extremally limited)

3. taking the fingerprint of each family member by using an ink pad and a paper

4. examining the fingerprints and determine the dominant fingerprint type (if present)

5. repeating the process on 4 more families to get accurate and varied results

6. coming up with a final statement about the relationship between genetics and fingerprint types.

As I finished conducting the experiment I noticed that all the families had similar fingerprints within them, as there was no family with zero similar fingerprint types between the siblings.

Family one consisted of four members all having arch fingerprints, the same pattern is shown in family three as they all had a whorl fingerprint type. However, family two, four and five weren’t consistent of one fingerprint type but had a ratio of 1:2 therefore although not every member of the family has the same fingerprint type, there was a pattern which is most likely related to heredity since fingerprint types were repetitive between withing a family and not randomly distributed. In addition to that, the appearance of a fingerprint type only once was not occurring, because of fingerprint types being related to heredity.

According to my experiment, I concluded that fingerprint types are not randomly created, but are affected by genetic factors. Friction ridge skin (FRS) covers the surfaces of humans' hands and feet, FRS is one-of-a-kind which creates our unique fingerprints.

Two important events in the formation of FRS occur. fetuses grow smooth volar pads, which are enlarged pads on the fingertips. The pads stop growing on week ten, but the hand continues to grow. Thus, the volar pad is absorbed back into the hand over the next few weeks. And ridges start appearing. The second event is the formation of ridges, if they appear while the volar pad is still pronounced then it will create a whorl pattern, if they appear when the pad is less pronounced a loop pattern will develop, if they appear while the pad is nearly absorbed it creates an arch pattern. Finally, inheritance takes part in the timing, as we mentioned the fingerprint type is created based on the timing of ridges formation to the volar pad. This timing is inherited and is influenced by genes.

Yes, to some extend my hypothesis was correct, I was able to guess that the overall conclusion and data gathered would support the statement “fingerprint types are related to genetics”, but I didn’t have enough background information nor experience to scientifically reason my hypothesis. After conducting the experiment and going through different resources I was able to determine the link between genes and fingerprint types, which might not be necessary in the hypothesis but filled an empty gap.

Strengths:

- Equipment: having high-quality equipment enabled me to collect my data more accurately, the blue ink pad I used was designed for such purposes which made it easier when determining the fingerprint type, as well as using a magnifying glass assisted me and had a major effect in correctly labeling the fingerprint types.

- Time accuracy: time played an important role in finalizing the results, as I took most if not all fingerprint’s of a family within the same time, in order to get a balanced pigment and determine the fingerprint type easier

- Environmental factors: I made sure that environmental factors have no effect on my experiment nor collecting data, as an environment can end up changing the whole conclusion and examination, therefore my results were accurate and not affected by the environment.

Weaknesses:

- Although I took care of collecting fingerprints within a family at the same time, I should have taken fingerprints of all the families at the same time as that might have been easier, and more accurate because it would simply balance the pigment of the ink

- I should have let the volunteers in some cases wait before stamping their fingerprints as some family members managed to ruin the pattern because of the high pigment and movement irresistibility, therefore I should have focused on the volunteers more in order to get a suitable outcome.

If I had another chance to conduct the experiment I would pay more attention to the volunteers, as personally, I wasn’t able to control their movement which caused difficulties in determining the fingerprint types in some cases.

However, experimentally speaking I would take the fingerprints of the parents (along with the siblings) in order to thoroughly examine the whole family accurately and properly from a scientific and heredity perspective. In order to have the full ability to explain the results while including family history, and the family tree.

I believe research skills were effectively used during the experiment as I was able to achieve the experiment using research, I also had the ability to reason my conclusion and coming to an accurate and justifies one.

Self-management skills fell down upon the effort of trying to submit complete work on time. I also had to depend on myself for the whole experiment (knowing that other classmates are using a group system and I was only an individual)

I believe thinking skills were a major help when it came to organizing data and collecting it in general as it required a specific amount, way, and ideology to come up with the conclusion, lastly, I implied thinking skills while writing my hypothesis and coming up with a unique idea.

Communication and social skills were the most used within my experiment since my experiment is all about genes and hereditary, therefore families must be involved in the topic. I had to communicate with 5 families in order to complete collecting my data (which took time but I was able to successfully gather information and communicate with other families)

My experiment and research is extremely important to humans, as it revolves around them. The conclusion I ended up with might not be a stabilized well known information to people, therefore educating one’s self about their own body can be helpful educationally and also impact future events (such as court evidence etc.)

As a society, we already apply fingerprints in airports, courts, hospitals, and professional papers. Therefore, while using the fingerprint method, we can simply know the science behind it. In addition to that practicing, it can be related to events where families are required to take fingerprints (as a random trend will cause the employer or responsible worker to know that there is something wrong)

Using my project as service as action can be educationally impactful. Once a specific group of people have a better understanding on this topic we can rightfully and correctly imply it and quickly notice any trends that might be out of place. Therefore, I created a poster about this topic, with simple shortened but impactful sentences