Tobacco On Goldfish Metabolism

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The Effects of Tobacco on Goldfish Metabolism Introduction Tobacco is connected with a number of negative effects in humans and a few other organisms. For example, the long list of negative effects range from birth defects and lessened lung capacity, to sexual impotence. All of the previously mentioned result from extended tobacco exposure in varying mediums and although they are negative effects associated with tobacco, it has also been proven that tobacco to acts as a stimulant to some animals (Nice 135). In studying how tobacco effects the body of any living being and its uses, over time new developments may progress that would allow us to use tobacco only for its positive effects while bypassing its negative ones. In using Goldfish in experimenting with tobacco’s stimulating effects, we are able to measure tobacco’s stimulating effect by closely monitoring the fish’s metabolism indirectly through its rate of oxygen consumption. The null hypothesis for this experiment is that there is no difference between the Goldfish’s exposure or non exposure to tobacco while the alternative hypothesis is that there is a difference between the two treatments. Materials and Methods To begin the lab, the variable treatment was prepared as the Loggerlite probe, used to later measure oxygen consumption, warmed up for approximately 10 minutes. To prepare the variable treatment, 200ml of Sodium and Ammo-lock water was measured in a container and a pre-prepared “tea bag” of tobacco was steeped in the room temperature treated water until a light yellow color was visible. After preparing the tobacco solution the preparation for the live goldfish began as two beakers were filled with 100 ml of treated water. Each beaker was weighed before addi... ... middle of paper ... ...-value indicate that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected and the presence of tobacco in the Goldfish water may not have had an effect on the metabolism of the fish. These results indicate that there may not have been an effect in exposure for 10 minutes with a very slight amount of tobacco present in the water. For future experimentation, the concentration of tobacco, medium in which the tobacco is delivered, or exposure period prior to recording data may have provided us with different results. Beside the experimental factors, the numbers may have also been skewed in the presence of two outliers in both the control group and experimental group. To identify which fish may be the outlier or to offset the effect of an outlier, it may be beneficial for future experimentation to test each fish individually to increase the sample size.

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