Method
First of all you should collect your equipment. Ask one person who smokes and one person who doesn’t; then ask both of them to take their pulse before performing the task of skipping for 30 seconds. We have decided not to use the steps because we think that skipping is more energetic, therefore making the results higher and more dramatic. Then make them do the exercise, timing it, and make sure that they are doing it right. Ask them to check their pulse on their wrist and record it onto a graph or results table. Make them do this for 3 times. Then time how long it takes for their original pulse to return to normal.
Prediction
In this experiment I expect that the person that smokes will have the higher heart rate than the non-smoker because the lungs are weakened by the tar included in the cigarette, therefore making it harder to breathe, so this causes the rate of your heart beat to increase. This is the opposite for the non-smoker because the lungs have nothing obstructing the through flow of gases to and from the lungs, therefore finding it easier to breathe and will cause a normal heart rate.
Safety
To make sure that the investigation is safe we will acquire as much space that we need to carry out the exercise (skipping). Another aspect in which we will look at is whether the individual can skip, but if they can’t, then we will have to either teach them how to or we could get different people which matched our requirements. We must also make sure that the rope is the right size for both of the individuals and that they take their shoes off, just in case they don’t trip over.
Fair Test
During the course of our investigation we will have to think of the variables and reflect them on how we will make the experiment a fair test. To make this a fair test we shall…
- Use the same piece of skipping rope,
- Use the same stop clock,
- Read your pulse at the same amount of time after the exercise.
Extent and range of evidence to be collected
This investigation is going to need about five readings from each person: One, resting pulse; two, after exercise; three, four, five etc… every minute after exercise until original pulse.
The 1st reading, which is the rest pulse, will be taken for 30 seconds, immediately 30 seconds after you should start the exercise, which would take 30 seconds. Then straight after you will take your 2nd set of readings for another 30 seconds. You must then record all of your results in a table. For the last set of results you must take the 3rd lot. This will be done by taking readings every minute after the exercise for 30 seconds. We will stop taking readings until the Heart rate returns to its original pulse. Our investigation will consist of only two people, a smoker, and a non-smoker. Asking them if they smoke and if they don’t, and whether they can skip will choose the people who will be taking part in our investigation.
Collection of valid and accurate evidence
I think that this investigation would benefit from looking at other aspects of smokers/non-smokers e.g. people that have always smoked, people that have never smoked, people that has not smoked and then start and people that have smoked then stopped. These categories will need to be investigated in order to give a true and accurate result.
Analysing and considering evidence
Trends and patterns
The trends and patterns in my graph are noticeable. My graph’s trend descends a little as the period of time goes on. The trend ranges from 71up to 142 beats. Which says that 142, being the highest point on the graph to the left and 71, being the lowest point on the graph to the right.
The pattern of my graph is that the smoker’s pulse rates on the graph were continuously higher by just a little bit, than the non-smoker’s (which were just a tad underneath). This means that overall the smokers pulse rate were just that little bit higher than the non-smokers.
Conclusion
To conclude my investigation, I would say that the whole experiment went according to plan. In my prediction I said that the smokers would have the highest heart/pulse rate out of the two because the tar incorporated within a cigarette weakens the lungs, therefore blocking up the Trachea (windpipe) and making it harder to breathe, so this causes the rate of your heart to beat increasingly more. I stated that this would be the opposite for the non-smokers because the lungs have got nothing obstructing the through flow of gases to and from the lungs, therefore finding it easier to breathe and will cause a normal heart rate.
Evaluation
This experiment did proceed to plan and nothing went unsuccessfully wrong which is good. Every step of my investigation was followed correctly and we obtained the results very accurately. I made sure that the experiment was undertaken fairly and safely because if these two factors weren’t looked at carefully, then it would affect the results in quite a dramatic way. This leads onto anomalies; we did in fact get one or two anomalous readings. This could be because of many reasons, for example: someone could’ve tried harder than the other, which would raise their pulse rate, giving a higher reading; or someone could’ve not tried hard enough, giving a lower reading. We had had three sets of results, which would make the results more accurate. We also had to average them out and insert them into a results table and plot them into a graph.
If I were to change the way this experiment was done to improve it I would ask the people who are doing the experiment to take their pulse in a place where it is more precise, so it will give a better reading.
To back up the evidence already given, you could do further work. You could do this by yourself; if you were a non-smoker you could do the exercise three times and record all of your results in a table and plot them into a graph. You may possibly start smoking and if you do wait for about a month and redo the experiment by doing the exercise again and record the results in a table and a graph. You will then see what the difference is between a smoker and a non-smoker’s pulse rate after doing an exercise.
