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| fuzzyduk |
 Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:37 pm Post subject: determining heavy metals in cigarette smoke |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Posts: 13
Location: cambridge, uk
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i have to design a method for determining heavy metals in cigarette smoke, but there is no smoking machine available so instead acid digestion will be carried out using a dreschler bottle.
my problem is that my lecturer said something about using a sequence of acid traps, now im not sure what this means exactly, and i cant seem to find anything about it online, can anyone help me out on this one? |
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| SteveF |
| Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 367
Location: NC USA
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For a reference to the equipment you mentioned, see this link:
http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/local/organic/15.html figure 2.
I hope you realize the amount of heavy metals in cigarette smoke is virtually zero. You will need some very accurate experiments to measure such small quantities. Good luck.
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| fuzzyduk |
| Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Posts: 13
Location: cambridge, uk
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cheers mate ill have a look.
yea, im lacing the cigarettes with nasties beforehand to see if it would be poss to poison someone  |
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| SteveF |
| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:35 am Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 367
Location: NC USA
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If I may make a suggestion to your project, start by measuring the heavy metals in the unburnt tobacco and then in the remaining ash. You may assume that any differences would be attributed to loss by combustion products. In that manner you have used simpler techniques to determine your result indirectly.
Also, since you are new to these laboratory methods of working with actual smoke, try a simpler goal. Determine something easier in the smoke such as tars, nicotine, particles, and so on. Or else seek heavy metal concentrations in places where there might actually be some such as sludge. Again, good luck.
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| Scifor Refugee |
| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:04 am Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 947
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| SteveF wrote: |
If I may make a suggestion to your project, start by measuring the heavy metals in the unburnt tobacco and then in the remaining ash. You may assume that any differences would be attributed to loss by combustion products. In that manner you have used simpler techniques to determine your result indirectly.
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I agree. T You need to measure the metal content of an unburnt cigarette and compare it to the ashes of a burnt cigarette. |
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| fuzzyduk |
| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:09 am Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Posts: 13
Location: cambridge, uk
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yea i guess it could be done that way too, i might try both, see which one gives better results. thanks
Its got to be cigarettes, its a forensics project on whether or not you could kill someone by lacing their cigarettes with heavy metals. |
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