Finger Print Yourself

 

In this activity, visitors place a fingertip on an electronic fingerprint reader and see a high-resolution image of their fingerprint magnified hundreds of times on a video screen. This fascinating real-time image changes as they move their finger on the reader, bringing once invisible nicks and cuts into clear focus. Using the greatly enlarged image, they can compare their fingerprints to three basic fingerprint patterns—arches, loops and whorls—and identify the special signature they carry on their hands.