Written by Naziyah
Counterfeit currency has been going around for many years, and as time passed, we developed new ways to catch these counterfeiters. In the article “Chemical Counterfeit Catcher” by Mike McClure, he discusses the history and impact of counterfeit bills, as well as the test that helps to identify counterfeit money, and how they work on a molecular level.
The “catcher” works to identify counterfeits by using a Counterfeit Detector Pen. Real currency has cellulose in its paper, while a counterfeit will contain starch and cellulose. The recipe for this special paper is only known by the Crane & Company of Massachusetts, and comes from a mixture of cotton and wood. White ordinary paper contains starch in order to stiffen the paper, there is no starch in currency. The pen uses Iodine to test for this starch. If starch is detected on a fake bill, then the surface of the bill covered by the ink will turn blue or black. This positive test result occurs because the iodine molecules are not able to bond to the fibers of cellulose. On the other hand, when the pen is used on a genuine bill, the exposed area of the bill covered in ink will have no reaction. This is a negative test result.
This article and its graphics connect to science that starch and cellulose both classified as carbohydrates, which is one of the four biomolecules we learned (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids). They are also both polysaccharides rather than monosaccharides (like glucose and fructose) or disaccharides (like sucrose). While starch is the storage molecule for plants, cellulose is a structural carb that is used to build the cell wall. As for the two glucose diagrams, glucose identifies as a monosaccharide and falls under the carbohydrate category. Both diagrams contain a carboxyl group, and are isomers (both have the same formula, yet a different structure). All in all, what science connects to the topic of the article “Chemical Counterfeit Catcher”.
Naziyah is a 16 year old writer from Florida. She writes for her school's newspaper, The Olive, and her favorite class is APUSH (AP US History). She is a Hamilton fanatic and dreams of writing "non-stop!" like he did!
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