Ryan+K

Ryan Kunselman Mrs. Wilson Honors Chemistry October 7, 2009 Literature Review The question that will be attempted to answer thoroughly is, “What are the effects of the chemicals in cigarettes on pachysandra?” Throughout this experiment, the plant, pachysandra, will ingest different chemicals that are in cigarettes, as opposed to ingesting water. This process should demonstrate the effects that cigarettes, and the chemicals inside them, can have a plant rather than just a human. First, there are at least 4000 different chemicals in a single cigarette. Such chemicals are: formaldehyde, arsenic, hydrogen cyanide(gas the Nazi’s gassed the Jews with in World War II), ammonia, cadmium, benzene, nicotine, and many, many more. Cigarettes are generally smoked by people for the purpose of relieving stress, and calming somebody down when they are angry. Plus, people sometimes smoke cigarettes to “look cool.” The affects that cigarettes have on a humans body over the years can be severe or even fatal. Furthermore, the plant, pachysandra, is a type of evergreen, ground cover. It is a member of the boxwood family, and generally grows to a height of 20-45cm tall, with leaves ranging from 5-10cm in length. Pachysandra grows in deep-shade areas, and prefers to be in well-drained soil, with high humus content. This plant originated in Japan, and Northern-Central Asia, later it migrated to northeastern U.S. and Canada. To test this project, the pachysandra will be separated into separate cups and through needles, will be fed the various chemicals from cigarettes, such as nicotine, benzene, and ammonia. In this project, there has to be multiple constants so the experiment can be measured to the most precise level of accuracy. The constants are, the same brand of cups the pachysandra is located in, location of the plants, time the plants are “watered,” the type of soil they are resting in, and the same species of pachysandra. In order to make this science project work, it is necessary to know all the vital information. Such information can contain, the ingredients in cigarettes that are considered to be to dangerous to even be permitted on school property, such as cadmium. Another vital piece of information is that pachysandra can survive in highly shaded areas, and originated in a foreign country and migrated to the Americas. Finally, in this experiment, the independent variables are the chemicals that are interchanging for the different groups of plants. The dependent variable is the liveliness of the plants after several ingestions on the chemicals, and the control is water. Liveliness in this experiment is defined as discoloration, wilting or drooping over, or death. Each chemical will be tested at least seven times. This will be done to show the effects of the chemicals involved with cigarettes on the plant pachysandra.

Works Cited

4 Oct. 2009. [].. 4 Oct. 2009.[]. 4 Oct. 2009.[]. 4 Oct. 2009.[]. 4 Oct. 2009.[]. 4 Oct. 2009.[]. 4 Oct. 2009.[]. 4 Oct. 2009.[]. 4 Oct. 2009.[]. 4 Oct. 2009.[].

__Materials__ 28 healthy pachysandra, nicotine, distilled water, ammonia, acetone, graduated cylinder __Procedure__

1. Separate the pachysandra into 4 groups of 7 plants, keep them all in the same central area 2. Number the plants from 1-7 within their respective groups, example would be nicotine-1, nicotine-2 and so on 3. Mix a total of 2.38 grams of nicotine with 1575 ml of distilled water 4. Mix a total of 90 mg of acetone with 1575 ml of distilled water 5. Mix a total of 41.4 mL of ammonia with 1575 ml of distilled water (this mixture amounts should provide enough for 9 feedings on every other day) 6. Water each plant with its corresponding chemical, provide each plant with 25 ml of the mixed substance i.e. water nicotine-1 with 25 ml of mixed nicotine solution 7. Photograph each plant everytime prior to being water to show changes in livelyness and discoloration (etc.) 8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 every watering of the plants