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Home » classroom » Lung Science Experiment and Tobacco Prevention Resources

Lung Science Experiment and Tobacco Prevention Resources

Classroom

This post may contain affiliate links, view my disclosure policy.

Below is a lung science experiment with tobacco prevention resources geared for middle school students.

photo cover of the middle school Stay Smart About Tobacco magazine resource for teachers

Before we get settled in with our lung science experiment, which gives a great visual of how smoking affects the lungs check out that Stay Smart About Tobacco magazine above. It had GREAT information on the toxic chemicals actually in tobacco products (EW!) and there was even a mini-poster with information for both students and teachers! Unfortunately Scholastic has unexpectedly pulled all of their anti-tobacco resources off of their site so they do not have any of their free printables anymore. But you can head here for more printable tobacco resources.

I had NO idea there were so many chemicals in tobacco products! It was extremely informative to learn these facts—even as an adult! The magazine also talks about electronic cigarettes, which is a big topic now and is growing popular with youth today. It’s a great foundational basis for kids to visualize what’s in tobacco products, and how tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, have been marketed with features that are appealing to young people.

To set up our lung science experiment which illuminate these facts for kids check out how we did it below. What I love is that these instructions are specifically geared for a classroom-sized group, including reproducible instruction pages that can be handed out to kids. Here are some related Lesson Plans and other printable resources on Tobacco Prevention.

Materials Needed for Lung Science Experiment:

photo of the materials needed for a Lung science Experiment for Tobacco Prevention campaign for middle school students

  • Duct Tape
  • 2 Straws
  • 1 Liter Clear Plastic Bottle
  • 4 Balloons


 

Lung Science Experiment Directions:

To set up our lung experiment we carefully cut the bottom off of our clear plastic bottle. For the healthy “lung” we taped one balloon end tightly around a straw so there were no air leaks. For the “lung” affected by smoking you will actually need to put a balloon inside of another balloon and then duct tape it to a straw.

This represents how smoking damages the elasticity of the alveoli tissue.

up close view of the lung science experiment bottle in use

Once you have inserted the two straws with attached “lungs” into the bottle opening you will need to take a small lump of clay and connect/seal the straws to the bottle opening. Make sure to seal them tightly so there are no air holes. To further help the visual affect of an unhealthy lung you will also need to push some clay down inside the straw of the unhealthy “lung” to mimic the blockage that smoking can cause.

cutting the balloon lungs for the lung science experiment bottle

The last step in preparing your lung science experiment is to cut the bottom off a balloon, tie it off, and wrap the cut end around the bottom opening of your clear bottle.

testing the lung science experiment bottle for tobacco prevention

We had several balloons break due to the sharp plastic edges of the bottle so if this occurs you can simply add a layer of duct tape around the bottle to cover the sharp edges and then wrap your balloon around the bottom opening of the bottle. Once your balloon is set in place add one final layer of duct tape around the edges to help hold the balloon in place.

testing the lung science experiment for middle school students

When you tug on the bottom balloon piece you will immediately notice that the suction created inside the bottle will help the healthy “lung” to inflate more easily than the damaged “lung,” which struggles to inflate properly.

finished lung science experiment bottle photo

The entire lung science experiment took us only a few minutes to put together!

This campaign has provided invaluable resources for our family to not only understand how smoking affects the lungs ability to function but also to understand what tobacco is actually made of.

 

 

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Shared by Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary

Comments

  1. diaz-zapata says

    September 30, 2016 at 4:40 pm

    awesome project worked out awesomely

    Reply
    • traci says

      October 15, 2020 at 9:46 am

      lol i cant get the balloon on the bottom

      Reply
  2. Khushi says

    April 8, 2017 at 9:26 am

    This is real got! I am legit using this for my Science fair project

    Reply
    • Rebbeca says

      April 8, 2017 at 9:28 am

      You mean *GOOD

      Reply
    • paradox Yelllow says

      February 7, 2019 at 2:20 pm

      LOL SAME HERE

      Reply
    • JustSomeStudent says

      December 16, 2019 at 8:05 pm

      lmao same, I’m kinda worried because what if people think I’m lazy? But then again everyone else in my grade is also still copying from others, some are creative because they want to go to the county. Does anyone else have any other science fair ideas so I don’t worry next year?

      Reply
  3. Khushi says

    April 8, 2017 at 9:27 am

    I am LEGIT using this for my Sci fair project

    Reply
  4. Rebbeca says

    April 8, 2017 at 9:27 am

    Looove it

    Reply
  5. Amily says

    August 20, 2017 at 3:13 am

    looooove it

    Reply
  6. Alanna says

    April 2, 2018 at 11:06 am

    wowiie, this is pretty good

    Reply
  7. Laur says

    November 7, 2018 at 4:28 pm

    What would the tested variable be in this experiment? What would the control group be?

    Reply
    • Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says

      November 12, 2018 at 8:44 am

      It would depend what you are experimenting for but you can make a regular “healthy” lung as a control.

      Reply
  8. Caroline says

    January 2, 2019 at 3:54 pm

    What did you observe in the world that made you ask your question

    Reply
  9. Me says

    January 3, 2019 at 5:59 pm

    Going to use this in class

    Reply
  10. Alora says

    January 14, 2019 at 4:14 pm

    Im so using this for my sci fair. 6th grade ROCKS!

    Reply
    • Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says

      January 21, 2019 at 7:19 pm

      WHOO!! Sounds awesome!

      Reply
  11. jay says

    January 22, 2019 at 5:25 pm

    good

    Reply
  12. Ellery says

    January 30, 2019 at 5:11 pm

    ok, heres the problem. i dont know how to graph my results, what do i graph.

    Reply
    • Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says

      January 31, 2019 at 10:23 am

      It depends on what you are looking for! Just make sure you set up a control too.

      Reply
  13. Pavan Dhesi says

    February 18, 2019 at 12:19 pm

    I love this experiment but here’s the catch i don’t know how to write a hypothesis about this but otherwise best experiment that anyone can do!!!!!!!!!!!I still need help to do the hypothesis though.

    Reply
    • Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says

      February 19, 2019 at 9:57 am

      A hypothesis is simply your best guess as to what will happen in the experiment. Best wishes!

      Reply
  14. jessica perez says

    February 21, 2019 at 8:17 pm

    This worked well and for sure using this first my 6th grade science project

    Reply
    • Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says

      March 1, 2019 at 11:19 am

      You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  15. (Nope) says

    April 3, 2019 at 4:52 am

    This is cool. Me and my friend are doing a science comp think we should do this?

    Reply
  16. Acaciamunoz says

    April 9, 2019 at 9:51 pm

    I’m using this idea for my science 🧪 fair. Project

    Reply
  17. nobody says

    May 17, 2019 at 2:43 pm

    this is pretty cool i think i will do this for my science fair project as well!

    Reply
  18. Wendy Villarreal says

    September 26, 2019 at 11:33 am

    Are the links still available?

    Reply
    • Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says

      October 1, 2019 at 9:09 am

      Hi Wendy – oh no! It appears Scholastic has updated their resources which is causing error links! I have reached out to them and will fix asap! Thanks for catching this!

      Reply
      • James says

        November 5, 2019 at 7:50 pm

        Your welcome babe

        Reply
  19. Anonymous says

    June 2, 2020 at 5:25 am

    I have an observation tomorrow and i learned about Blood and Breathing and i saw this while we were studying so, i’ll try to do this and see how it goes

    Reply

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