Forensic chemistry is the application of chemistry and forensic toxicology is a subfield in a legal setting. Forensic chemists can assist the identification of unknown materials which were found at the crime scene. Specialists have a wide array of methods and instruments to help identify unknown substances. Forensic chemists prefer using nondestructive methods first; to preserve evidence and to determine which destructive methods will produce the best results. To ensure the accuracy of what they are reporting, forensic chemists frequently check and verify that their instruments are working correctly and are still able to detect and measure various quantities of different substances. A lesser known definition of the adjective forensic is anything argumentative or debatable. At first, this definition of forensic could seem to possess no reference to the more popular crime-solving definition-but it does. Legal truth is sought through the use of the adversarial system, rather than the scientific method, and decisions are made only after each side has been given an equal opportunity to argue all the issues at hand. When one among the problems being argued may be a scientific analysis (using the scientific method) of an item of evidence, the talk that ensues over the science involved could be called forensic science. Other related definitions of forensic may include (1) the utilization of science to assist within the resolution of legal matters and (2) a scientific analysis for the aim of judicial resolve.
