The Health Risks of Smoking

Problem-What are the health risks of smoking?

Hypothesis-The cotton balls will become black due to the smoke released from the cigarette.

Research-The main health causes of smoking are lung cancer, Cancer of lips, gums, tongue, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, bladder, cervix, and gallbladder cancer. Also your skin will look 10-20 years older than one who does not smoke. 415,000 people die each year from smoking. Some short-term effects are, yellow teeth and fingernails. Your hair also becomes gross and it can ruin your skin. There is an increase risk of heart attack or stroke and emphysema.

Materials-2 plastic water bottles, 16 cotton balls, liter and a cigarette.

Experiment-Take 2 plastic, empty water bottles and put 8 cotton balls in the bottom of each. Make a little hole in the side of the bottle and make a hole big enough for a cigarette to fit into one of the bottles caps. Take a pack of cigarettes and insert one into the connected cap of the bottle. Light the cigarette and squeeze the bottle lightly then let go and repeat. Do it every day for about 6 weeks using and an average amount that a smoker would smoke a day.

Independent Variable- Cotton balls are clean to start with and will become more discolored as each day of smoking.

Dependant Variable- One bottles cotton balls are clean the others are black.

Constants-bottle and cotton balls.

Control-Cigarette

Data-The smoking bottle’s cotton balls turned black and had little pieces of tar on them. Since the other bottle did not have a cigarette the cotton stayed white.

Conclusion-The more a person smokes the higher a risk of getting lung cancer, or increased risk of heart attack and stroke. In the long term a person could get emphysema or other types of cancer mentioned above. This experiment gives a visual representation of how tar accumulates in a person’s lungs over a short period of time.

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