Cigarettes Lab Report

Abstract:

There are many different types of cigarettes in the world and although no matter which type is smoked there will be a high carcinogen uptake as well as other chemical resulting in a higher chance of developing cancer and lower cilia beat rates. This experiment took two cigarettes; one with a paper filter, and the other with charcoal filter. By taking mollusk gills and placing them in contaminated water from the two different smokes it could be seen that the cilia on the gills had a slower beat rate then cilia that were not in the contaminated water. This supported the hypothesis that smoking will inhibit the ciliary action and lower the quality filter the greater affect will be exhibited by the effected cilia.

Introduction:
Cigarettes contain harmful chemicals that can affect how the body filters and cleans our lungs. The smoke interferes with the cilia’s job of keeping the lungs clear of dirt and dust and when there is too much smoke they become paralyzed which results in the buildup the mucus and toxic chemicals. Smoking affects lungs its important to look at the carcinogenic effects of it. A carcinogen is any substance that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). It has been proven that cigarettes release more then 20 carcinogens know to promote lung cancer into your body. (Hecht, 2010). When looking at the cilia exposed to cigarette smoke in this lab it is seen that they have been greatly slowed down when compared to the uncontaminated cilia, and parts of the cells are covered in tar from the tobacco. For this lab it was hypothesized that smoking will inhibit the ciliary action and lower the quality filter the greater affect will be exhibited by the effected cilia. The prediction made was that cilia should beat fastest after being exposed to smoke that has passed through the charcoal filter, and slowest after being exposed to smoke that’s passed through the charcoal filter. To investigate the effects of cigarette smoke on human lungs a lit cigarette was placed in a hookah and smoke was drawn out and mixed with water. Mollusk gills were
The results show that smoking had a big difference on the rate of which cilia beat. When looking at the water in the hookahs after the smoke has come in contact it can be seen that both are visibly yellow and that the paper filter hookah water has a darker tint which means more chemical and tar were able to pass through the paper filter. After the entire lab collected the data needed it was clear that for the cilia that were not in the contaminated water were beating at an expected fast rate. The cilia examined that were in the contaminated water were beating at a much slower rate. When the cilia in the water that was mixed with the paper filter smoke seemed to make the cilia beat much slower then both other variables. This happened mostly likely because the paper filter was a lower quality filter then the charcoal and let many more chemicals and tars through. The chemicals and tar most likely started to build up on the cells killing some of the cilia and slowing others down. This data shows that smoking cigarettes no matter the type of filter can prohibit the movement of the cilia and if smoked often it can lead to the cilia becoming paralyzed and unable to function properly. It is seen in other experiments that when testing the speed of cilia in smoker’s vs non-smokers that they get similar results to the ones found by conducting this lab. (Stanley and others, 1986). From this experiment