Why is cigarette smoke blue

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Br J Ophthalmol — Eye Lond — J Nutr Sci Vitaminol Tokyo — Wang H, Joseph JA Quantifying cellular oxidative stress by dichlorofluorescein assay using microplate reader. Free Radic Biol Med — PLoS One 4:e Photochem Photobiol Sci — Lancet Glob Health 2:e—e Young RW Pathophysiology of age-related macular degeneration. Surv Ophthalmol — Since mostly blue waves are scattered about the area, we see the smoke as blue.

Most of the other, longer wavelengths go almost straight past the particles and we don't see most of them. Smoke particles that are sucked into the lungs are a bit bigger because they are not burned down completely. Many of them will remain in the lungs, hidden from the world until the biopsy.

Many are exhaled, though, and when they come out they have changed again. While in the lungs, and on the way out, they pick up moisture so they become bigger still. The particles are now big enough to reflect all wavelengths of light equally. When all the wavelengths are reflected back they make white light, and so the smoke looks white.

In the summer of , most smokers noticed a change in familiar cigarette packages. This is because the U. Food and Drug Administration FDA had just banned the use of words like "light," "mild," and "low" on cigarette packages. The FDA made this switch due to safety concerns. Words like "light," "mild," and "low" lulled consumers into thinking that these cigarettes were safer than regular cigarettes , keeping them from trying to quit smoking.

In reality, all cigarettes are equally dangerous. In many cases, cigarette manufacturers have responded by simply removing the banned words from their cigarette packages and letting the colors do the talking.

For example, now blue, gold, and silver are typically reserved for the supposedly milder products, while red is used for traditional cigarettes and the color green for menthol cigarettes.

Though the words that might prevent people from quitting smoking are gone, research has shown that the perception of these new cigarette packages is the same.