Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

what other chemicals can be used from blood instead of iron to see if the luminol still makes it glow?

Is luminol a dangerous chemical to use around a lot of people?

Hey maricruzrios,

As far as I know luminol only reacts with the iron in the blood. Hopefully someone else will correct me if I am wrong on that. It will however react with other substances, such as copper and bleach. Now that I think of it though, it makes me wonder if iron deficient blood would glow less or maybe even not at all, depending on the severity of the anemia.

As for how safe or dangerous luminol is, here's a link to a material safety data sheet on it:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http ... -23560.pdf

Hope that helps!