Nicotine - What Is It Made Of?

What Is It Made Of?

Nicotine is a poisonous alkaloidA nitrogen-containing substance found in plants. that occurs naturally in the leaves of the tobacco plant. While still in the leaves of the plant, it is a colorless liquid. Sixty milligrams of nicotine, about the amount

Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra is shown as he begins chewing a large wad of tobacco in 1990. He later appeared in a public service announcement telling teens to aspire to play like him, not chew tobacco like him. Jonathan Daniel
Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra is shown as he begins chewing a large wad of tobacco in 1990. He later appeared in a public service announcement telling teens to aspire to play like him, not chew tobacco like him. Jonathan Daniel/Allsport USA.

a bottle cap would hold, can kill a human being. It is used as a pesticide to kill insects on plants and internal parasites in animals.

The chemical formula for nicotine is C10H14N2. Theaverage cigarette contains 8 to 10 milligrams of nicotine, but much of this is lost in the process of burning. Typically, a smoker receives about 1 milligram of nicotine per cigarette. A pinch of chewing tobacco contains between 4.5 and 6.5 milligrams of nicotine. Since chewing tobacco enters the body more slowly than smoked tobacco, more of the dose is absorbed, but over a longer period of time.

In addition to nicotine, a smoking leaf of tobacco releases more than 4,000 different chemicals. Four hundred of these are known to be poisonous, and forty-three have been shown to cause cancer. A lit cigarette releases, among other things, carbon monoxideA poisonous gas with no odor; carbon monoxide is released when cigarettes burn., ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, benzene, formaldehyde, acetone, methanol, and vinyl chloride. Tobacco companies add other ingredients to cigarettes as well, including menthol. Menthol numbs the throat to the irritating effects of the smoke. It also widens the pathways in the lungs, allowing more smoke to penetrate the tissues.

When smoke is exhaled from the lungs, a substance called tar remains in the body. As its name suggests, tar is a sticky residue that clings to lung tissue. Tar contains cancer-causing compounds. Receiving nicotine through the mouth by chewing reduces some of the dangerous chemicals from tar, but it also exposes the tissues in the mouth to cancer-causing agents and compounds that cause tooth decay and gum disease. The same compounds in tar simply cling to the mouth tissues and are absorbed by the gums, cheeks, and throat.