Spehro Pefhany said:
This was kind of a cool Amateur Scientist idea:
http://www.speff.com/smoke.gif
As cigs are probably illegal or unacceptable in the workplace, the
joss* sticks JL mentioned (from your friendly neighborhood
Indian/Chinese/New Age emporium) could be substituted.
* apparently Pidgin from Portuguse deus (god).
-----
When Chinese joss sticks are burnt they release significant amounts of
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) like butanal and propanal, and of
aldehydes, like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. These have been linked to
skin inflammation on contact (contact dermatitis), which is a marker for
increased risk of childhood leukaemia, childhood brain tumour and cancer of
the nasal passages and pharynx.
Burning the joss compound wrapped round a bamboo stick releases even higher
levels of these chemicals, demonstrating that bamboo is also a natural
source of PAHs.
-----
A red hot soldering iron dipped in oil (extra virgin olive oil perhaps)
gives
also a nice amount of smoke. Or feeding small amounts of oil through a red
hot metal pipe. I also recall DUT's generating huge amounts of smoke all by
themselves, automagically