Expert: Walter Hintz - 5/31/2011

Question
QUESTION: We doing a project on it We made 2 greenhouses en put 4 plants in each in the one we blow smoke the one that we did not blow smoke died after a week the other one stil has one plant left. We would like to know why and maybe give us more information about it We are from South Africa
Thank You

ANSWER: Hi Liza
.  What grade level is this?
Did you use proper controls. In other words were the plants the same kind in the same kind of soil and did all get the same amount of water? Was the same amount of smoke blown in? Did 7 out of the 8 plants die. If the answer is yes to these questions then I would say that the data is not sufficient to draw any conclusions.
What was your hypothesis? I do not think that blowing smoke would have any effect. If you want to test the effects of tobacco on plants,make a solution of tobacco in water and then water the test plants with it.
 If you are smoking the cigarettes and blowing the smoke in,that is a bad idea. Don't do that

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: She is in Grade 8. It is a Expo thing that we do. It is the same plant in the same soil. Like i said we blow smoke in the one greenhouse what we made and the other one we did not. We want to test wat effect cigarette smkoke has on houseplant.

Like we read up they said that the stomatalPores get effected by it and the Photosynthesis.

our Hypothesis on it is that the plant did grow  well for a time but that is because of the CO 2 that the cigarette smoke makes bacause plant live on it. The other one with out the CO2 died. At this time it looks like cigarettesmoke is good for a while but on the long term it do effect the plants growing. But what do you say about the other plants that we did not blow in smoke.

Thank you  would like to hear from you again

Answer
If you have to make a report for the teacher remember that. a hypothesis is not what happened but a guess as to might happen. Now as for your results: Tobacco smoke would produce Carbon monoxide not Carbon dioxide. If I was doing this experiment my hypothesis would be that tobacco smoke slows the growth of a plant if at all.That is why I said that I thought you should repeat the experiment. I do no know if her teacher would accept this project.  
Please tell me this 8th grader is not puffing on cigarettes to get the smoke.