Tobacco

[Raccoon1010]

First let me say that tobacco is addictive and also very difficult to stop once you have started its use these days. It is currently an extremely expensive habit in the United States and may cost a ridiculous $280 per month. And for contrast that is about the cost of groceries for some people. And all it really is, is a leave of herb plant packaged into items for sale. I don't know about most people, but I can get a whole head of lettuce for about $1.50.

12.3 Chemicals and contaminants in tobacco products - Tobacco in Australia

From the story:

"Polyphenols found in tobacco include rutin, "C h l o r o g e n i c" acid, caffeic acid and scopoletin. Tobacco plants also contain toxic metals. Cadmium and lead are found at relatively high levels in tobacco leaves because the plants readily absorb them from soil."

So I wondered are any of those items they found in tobacco leaves carcinogen and why?

I did the analysis of radiation as a cancer causing element and found that at high enough energies it certainly was. But I just wasn't sure which chemical compounds could actually be a strong enough chemical to bind with DNA molecules and either rip them out entirely or snatch one away while another replaces it. That could be the science of the molecular bond energy of the DNA double helix structure.

 

[Raccoon1010]

I got to thinking about the idea of strong chemical compounds, like stomach acids, that they say could bind with a DNA molecule. Then I got to common sense areas and thought I imagined molecules or atoms attached to the DNA and wondered what would rip out a molecule and leave it barren? I certainly am away the "photoelectric" effect has that potential for high energy particles traveling at high velocities.

So in my imagination I thought "wow" here is this idea from scientist that states that strong chemicals can destroy DNA. Then I applied the concept to the cellular structure and found a total destruction of cellular tissue? Well I thought I imagined such a thing given high enough concentrations of such a chemical. Now I certainly am away of the strong chemical reaction potential of acids, like those found in the stomach. I then became worried for some folks that had ulcers in their stomachs where the protective mucus lining was destroyed by some unknown cause. I considered causes and perhaps will write an article on that. Including stomach acid entering the throat lining from the upper intestinal tract.

And that got me wondering why all the drive for prohibition of alcohol and tobacco products from the certain political agendas. In some states it's as much as $280 per month for a relatively small amount of tobacco leaves. I wondered if it was the same amount as a head of lettuce which currently was around $1.50?

 

[Raccoon1010]

I'm wondering the quantization analysis first in my thought experiment for the atoms in a DNA system:

"Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, the famous ‘double helix’, which holds the genetic instructions for building an organism is about a hundred times smaller than a virus, it has a width of 3 × 10-9 m, or 3 nanometres. You might imagine that there is not much smaller than this, but a single strand of DNA still contains a couple of hundred billion atoms." Basic science: understanding numbers

So then how many atoms in an entire cell where the DNA exists in the tiny center:

When I searched for the number of atoms in the human tissue cell it was fairly disappointed and overly mislead as suspiciously deceptive.

The idea was to compare the number of atoms in a DNA strand to the number of atoms in the human tissue cell.

 

[Raccoon1010]

Here's a brittanica illustration of a standard cell and take note of the nucleus which is probably not to scale with any real ratio of size:

Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA). https://medlineplus.gov/download/genetics/understanding/basics.pdf

 

[Raccoon1010]

I did a simple calculation and research into chemical bond energies. I found something that is similar for carbon-carbon bond energy of around 1e-18 joules. Then I looked at stomach acid which is basically a concentration of "h y d r o c h l o r i c" acid and that had a bond energy slightly less at around 7e-19 joules and wondered if that could even affect the carbon-carbon bond.

sources for bond energies:

https://www.echemi.com/community/wh...more-than-that-of-hf_mjart2204282384_809.html

Carbon–carbon bond - Wikipedia

It was a vague search and difficult to find any real information regarding the bond energy to destroy a DNA molecule pair and induce cancer.

 

[Raccoon1010]

Carbohydrates contain only carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms; prior to any oxidation or reduction, most have the empirical formula Cm(H2O)n. Compounds obtained from carbohydrates by substitution, etc., are known as carbohydrate derivatives and may contain other elements. carbohydrate (CHEBI:16646)

 

[Raccoon1010]

Well after a long analysis I determined that radiation could definately induce genetic damage with sufficient photoelectric energies. But it was unclear to me regarding chemical compounds that are around the same bond energies from ionic or covalent bonds which I thought some were outer electron orbital energies which vary depending on the atom.

I do know that chemistry has proven that at least acids and oxidizers and the like can attach and sometimes rip out atoms and molecules for binding. So there is always that area which must be proven to have happened in a damaged DNA structure with genetic sequencing perhaps. Looking for items that are not supposed to be there, then that would be attached, and also there could be missing items as well and then there might be suspicion of a carcinogen.

 

[Wick Stick]

First let me say that tobacco is addictive and also very difficult to stop once you have started its use these days. It is currently an extremely expensive habit in the United States and may cost a ridiculous $280 per month. And for contrast that is about the cost of groceries for some people. And all it really is, is a leave of herb plant packaged into items for sale. I don't know about most people, but I can get a whole head of lettuce for about $1.50.

12.3 Chemicals and contaminants in tobacco products - Tobacco in Australia

From the story:

"Polyphenols found in tobacco include rutin, "C h l o r o g e n i c" acid, caffeic acid and scopoletin. Tobacco plants also contain toxic metals. Cadmium and lead are found at relatively high levels in tobacco leaves because the plants readily absorb them from soil."

So I wondered are any of those items they found in tobacco leaves carcinogen and why?

I did the analysis of radiation as a cancer causing element and found that at high enough energies it certainly was. But I just wasn't sure which chemical compounds could actually be a strong enough chemical to bind with DNA molecules and either rip them out entirely or snatch one away while another replaces it. That could be the science of the molecular bond energy of the DNA double helix structure.

I don't know what half of those are, but my understanding of it is that it's the tar that is produced by burning tobacco that is carcinogenic.

I don't know whether the chemicals can be absorbed through the cell walls, but certainly there are some oils that can penetrate cells. Perhaps some of that is in the tar? Or perhaps its just the effect of coating the inside of one's lungs with something that damages them. The body repairs the same bit over and over again, you develop scar tissue, and... well you're messing around with cellular reproduction, which seems like a good way to get a cancer growing.

 

[Raccoon1010]

I don't know what half of those are, but my understanding of it is that it's the tar that is produced by burning tobacco that is carcinogenic.

I don't know whether the chemicals can be absorbed through the cell walls, but certainly there are some oils that can penetrate cells. Perhaps some of that is in the tar? Or perhaps its just the effect of coating the inside of one's lungs with something that damages them. The body repairs the same bit over and over again, you develop scar tissue, and... well you're messing around with cellular reproduction, which seems like a good way to get a cancer growing.

Yes I did do some research that stated that tobacco smoke was different than tobacco leaf as far as chemical composition and such. I did see also some blaming about lead and other metals in the soil and probably also fertilizer, insecticides and herbacides that might absorb into the raw tobacco leaf. Which then I would be suspicious of other agriculture products, so I really didn't care at all about that area of concern and blame as I wasn't really worried about my food made from those crops that were probably similar.

 

[Raccoon1010]

I did some research and I don't know if I got the numbers right, but was checking nicotine concentrations in the blood after smoking to see what probability might happen from the number of nicotine molecules per blood molecule.

I found that ratio to be 1/2.65e+19 and wondered if the nicotine would hit the DNA in the nucleus at all?

Sources:

"The density of blood plasma is approximately 1025 kg/m3 and the density of blood cells circulating in the blood is approximately 1125 kg/m3. Blood plasma and its contents is known as whole blood. The average density of whole blood for a human is about 1060 kg/M3." One moment, please...

"(Rose et al. 1999) Nicotine concentrations in arterial blood after smoking a cigarette can be quite high, reaching up to 100 ng ml−1, but usually ranging between 20 and 60 ng ml−1 (Gourlay and Benowitz 1997; Henningfield and Keenan 1993; Lunell et al. 2000; Rose et al. 1999)." Nicotine Chemistry, Metabolism, Kinetics and Biomarkers