Defense - Research

Jan 12, 2011 00:39

Second hand smoke is a mixture of the smoke emitted from the end of a burning cigarette, cigar or pipe and the smoke exhaled from the smoker’s lungs. It is also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), involuntary or passive smoke. According to several studies, second hand smoke is more dangerous than the actual smoke inhaled from the cigarette. Nonsmokers, who are exposed to this, have been found to have cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine found only in tobacco smoke, in their bloodstreams. Thus this puts them in greater health risks as compared to the smokers themselves because when a cigarette is smoked, about half of the smoke is inhaled or exhaled by the smoker and the other half floats around the air. So not only do the people around the smoker breathe in the smoke floating off from the smoldering butt of the tobacco into the air but they are also affected by the smoke exhaled by the smoker.

The smoke produced by the cigarette is a toxic cocktail that consists of poisons and carcinogens. There are over 4000 chemical compounds in the smoke; 200 of which are known to be poisonous and upwards 60 have been identified to be carcinogens. Carcinogens are cancer-causing substances.

Acticated Charcoal is also known to deodorize and basically purify air or water. The use of an activated carbon (or charcoal) filter for cigarettes may be able to lessen the negative effects of secondhand smoke, prevent the spread of its harmful gases and consequently reduce the risks of cancer, diseases, health problems generally related to secondhand smoking.

In this case, activated carbon will be used for gas purification. Activated carbon is best at trapping carbon-based impurities. Since cigarettes contain acetone, cyanide, formaldehyde, benzene, hydrogen cyanide, butane, methanol, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, chloroform, vinyl chloride as well as other chemicals,it is likely that activated charcoal could also filter out the toxic substances in cigarette smoke. Unfortunately, adsorption efficiency decreases over time and once all of the bonding sites or carbon surfaces are filled, the activated carbon will eventually need to be replaced or reactivated because the filter would stop working.

With the use of a filter that’s relies on active charcoal, a form of carbon that is adsorbent, the aim of this research is to lessen or eradicate the harmful substances in the tobacco smoke being released thus preventing more people, who are nonsmokers at that, from being placed in health risks such as lung cancer and heart attacks.

This research could help in the future by lessening the harmful substances contained in tobacco smoke from being released into the air where anyone can breathe it in. With this, less people will suffer from the effects of second hand smoking. In addition to the, nicotine stick through walls for a period of time. Therefore, through the utility of this filter, a better, safer and breathable environment would be created.
The simple separation of smokers and nonsmokers within the same air space may reduce, but does not eliminate, the exposure of nonsmokers to environmental tobacco smoke. Thus, it is important that even if authorities do all means to eliminate smokers, people must take the effort to reduce health risks and so smokers must learn to take responsibility for their own actions.

It is aimed to protect the health of those exposed to passive smoking namely relatives and friends of smokers. Addiction is not very easy to cure, and more often than not, it is inevitable for them to put their love ones at risk. Though, it is possible to cure addiction, some smoker opt not to be cured for personal reasons. At present there are no filters specifically targeting secondhand smoke so The researchers would then want to create a product using the revolutionary activated charcoal. Having been proven to be a highly effectual produce in eliminating bacteria or filtering compounds due to its porous nature, the researchers would then pave a way for a cleaner and less toxic emission.

schoolnotes, school: science

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