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Drugs, alcohol, and smoking

What's in a cigarette?

Think that a cigarette is just made of nicotine and tobacco? Think again! A cigarette releases 4,000 chemicals when a person smokes it. If you take a look in your garage, basement, or under your kitchen sink, you will find some of the things put into cigarettes. Match the clues with the names of the chemical.

In the box next to the name of the chemical, put the letter of the description you think best fits.

Definition	Your Answer	Substance
Preserves dead bodies. Yuck!		(a) Acetone
You can also find this ingredient in rat poison.		(b) Ammonia
The drug that makes it hard for you to quit smoking. It's used in other things too, like the bug spray you use on your plants.		(c) Benzene
See those yellow stains on a smoker's teeth? The same chemical is used to pave streets!		(d) Carbon monoxide
Helps your car run, because it's also used to make gasoline.		(e) Cyanide
You wouldn't stand behind a car with exhaust coming out, would you? This exhaust is also in cigarettes.		(f) Formaldehyde
You see it every day when you throw out your trash because it's also used to make garbage bags.		(g) Hydrogen cyanide
This is a poison used to kill bugs!		(h) Lead
You can use it to take off your nail polish, but you also inhale it when you smoke cigarettes. Gross!		(i) Nicotine
Found in batteries.		(j) Tar
You clean your house with this chemical. Don't smoke it!		(k) Vinyl chloride

 

Content last updated May 18, 2010

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