What happens when a cigarette burns?
While a smoker is inhaling, a cigarette burns at 700 degrees Celsius at the tip and around 60 degrees Celsius at the core. This heat breaks down the tobacco to produce various poisonous gases. As the cigarette burns, residues of burnt tobacco are concentrated towards the butt.
The smoke produced from a burning cigarette represents 5-8% of the cigarette's output. The rest, emitted in the form of gases and liquids, is invisible.
Chemical concoction - formaldehyde - used for embalming dead bodies - has a metallic taste
- ammonia - used for cleaning toilets - taste and smell like cat urine
- acetone - used to remove nail varnish
- carbon monoxide - emitted from car exhausts
- arsenic - used to kill rats
- hydrogen
- cyanide - used in gas chambers
- benzene - used as a petrol additive
- methanol
- wood alcohol acetylene - used as fuel in torches
- polonium 210 - radioactive element. One study showed that a person who smokes 20 cigarettes a day receives a dose of radiation each year equivalent to about 200 chest x-rays
- lead - highly toxic metal, capable of causing serious damage to the brain, kidneys, nervous system and red blood cells
- vinyl chloride - a manufactured substance used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
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The effects depend on the quantity smoked, how cigarettes are constructed (with or without filters), and how the tobacco has been prepared.
There are over 4000 chemicals in total. Compounds include heav
y metals and pesticides; researchers are still discovering new harmful ingredients.
Smoke includes more than 50 cancer-causing agents and toxins like arsenic, benzene, benzo[a]pyrene, cadmium, hydrogen cyanide and toluene.
Other substances are known or suspected mutagens causing permanent and often harmful changes in the genetic material of living cells.
03/06/2009