Expert: Walter Hintz - 12/30/2006

Question
My hypothesis is Yes Cigarette Smoke will effect plant growth. I plan to test it by using 5 different types of grass seeds. One group of 5 will be in an atmosphere of cigarette smoke and the other group of five in a regular air atmosphere.
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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I am doing a science fair project on the effects of cigarette smoke on plant growth. I am in the 9th grade and I need some info on this topic to cite in my literature review. I've been going to many search engines to try and find info but I have run into may problems. Can you help please
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Hi matthew
There is not a lot of material about this topic.  Some studies about smoke in general have been done but not cigarette smoke.  Your inability to find out information from search engine bears this out.  In any literature review for a scientific project it is perfectly acceptable to point this out.
 Just out of curiosity what is your hypothesis and how do you plan to test it?

Answer
Hi again Matthew; I found a nice study on this topic that should help you.  Go to
http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/nsfall98/FinalArticles/ TheSmokeySituation.html

By the way:By using 5 different kinds of grass seed you are introducing too many variables.  It is important to test the effect of smoke on only one type of plant.

I hope you are not lighting up to get the smoke you need.