how to reveal hidden messages from a lemon

#How to reveal hidden messages from a lemon code#

Heat oxidises the organic acid making it brown and therefore visible. To reveal the writing all you need to do is carefully heat the manuscript. Perhaps the simplest ‘invisible ink’ is lemon juice or vinegar. Many ‘invisible’ inks can be made from simple or common chemicals and in emergencies even bodily fluids such as saliva can be used. Dried writing from bodily fluids can be made visible again under a UV light but of course these were not available way back in the 1800’s. Ideally, invisible inks need to dry transparent, leave no tide mark or stain and also not wrinkle the paper. An old parchment is probably better at covering up these tale-tale signs than a modern flat piece of bright white paper, so it’s not improbable that an invisible message may have gone unnoticed.

In this example the three numbers could correspond to the first letter of the 33rd word in the 22nd paragraph of an 11th manuscript.

#How to reveal hidden messages from a lemon code#

11-22-33) known as Ottendorf ciphers. Each set of three will lead them, one letter at a time, to spell out the secret code or message. What is eventually revealed is a list of numbers in sets of three ( e.g. Then one of the team suggests that heat might be required and so, using their hot breath they breathe on the lemon-soaked paper and the invisible messages start to appear!

Using lemon juice they tentatively start testing the manuscript but are crestfallen when nothing immediately appears. In a daring and exciting mission Gates and his collaborators steal the priceless manuscript but with the police hot on their trail they only have a short time to reveal and decode any hidden message. Early on in the film Ben’s troubles really start when he learns that the key information he seeks is written in invisible ink on the back of what is arguably the USA’s most important historical document – the Declaration of Independence! They have all been searching for a ‘mountain of treasure’ apparently hidden 100s of years ago by the founding fathers of the USA. In National Treasure Benjamin Gates (Nicholas Cage) is the latest in a long line of treasure hunters in his family.