Melissa: 00:10

Hey. I'm Melissa.

Jam: 00:11

I'm Jam.

Melissa: 00:11

And I'm a chemist.

Jam: 00:12

And I'm not.

Melissa: 00:13

And welcome to chemistry for your life.

Jam: 00:15

The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life. Bonus edition.

Melissa: 00:23

Okay, Jam. I'm so excited for these questions, that that our listeners have sent in, a lot of them are from people from our Patreon. And normally, the top tier of our Patreon, the h bonders, when they write in a question, we will put their audio in. I think we'll still be able to do that for the podcast, but if you're listening on YouTube, you might need to go listen to the podcast if you wanna hear our The audio from our Patreon

Jam: 00:51

support. And in case it didn't work whenever we filmed our most recent episode, part 1 about protectors, We didn't really even say much about the fact that it was

Melissa: 01:02

Oh, yeah.

Jam: 01:03

In YouTube because it that if it doesn't work, We'll just we won't do it.

Melissa: 01:06

We just won't talk about it. Yeah.

Jam: 01:07

And we'll just try it again next time. So

Melissa: 01:09

But it worked.

Jam: 01:10

If you are listening right now and you missed The news, you can also instead, if you like to watch your podcasts, you can go watch this podcast on YouTube

Melissa: 01:20

Yeah.

Jam: 01:21

At Chem For Your Life. But if you are love the audio version and you're an audio podcast person

Melissa: 01:26

I'm an audio podcast person. I don't watch my podcast.

Jam: 01:29

Same. Totally the same. But a lot of people like to watch Mhmm. Podcast, which is, you know, more power to them.

Melissa: 01:35

Yeah. More power to them. And that makes it easier to make TikTok content, which is my next Our next frontier. Okay. So are you ready to get started with the questions?

Jam: 01:47

I'm ready. Are you ready, though?

Melissa: 01:49

Oh.

Jam: 01:49

It's It's kinda easier for me because I don't have to really

Melissa: 01:54

Answer them.

Jam: 01:54

Answer them. So how do you I don't know how to How do you say answer them? You know?

Melissa: 02:01

Well, I do have to answer them, but it's okay. I I think I have good answers for today's questions.

Jam: 02:05

Okay. Good. This first question is from Bridget, who is a high school science teacher. It's kinda maybe maybe physics, maybe not. Who knows?

Melissa: 02:13

Oh, yeah. I think I saw once Bridget Told me a a physics student asked a question. The Pop Rocks episode.

Jam: 02:19

Right. Okay.

Melissa: 02:19

So that's why I was like, so she must be a physics teacher.

Jam: 02:23

Got it. Okay. So, here's what Bridget said. I love your podcast, but I noticed an error in the last episode I listened to. For freezing point depression, The Van't Hoff factor changes how much a freezing point is depressed or boiling point raised by how many ions a substance disassociates 2 or dissociates 2.

Jam: 02:43

Here's a sample problem showing the math behind the changes I'm guessing she sent.

Melissa: 02:48

Yeah. She sent a sample problem. And if anyone wants to reach out, we can send that as well. So the thing is Bridget sent that feedback, and I thought, I don't know what my mistake was. Did I say something wrong maybe?

Melissa: 03:00

I don't know. But I completely agree with Bridget that maybe what I said was it's the amount of the material rather than this Specifically that it's the amount of ions it dissociates into?

Jam: 03:11

Oh, maybe so.

Melissa: 03:12

I didn't have a chance to ask her because I followed up on this really closely before we recorded. But I think that is maybe what I did is I just said, oh, it's the amount, but the amount of ions it disassociates into, That makes sense.

Jam: 03:26

Got it. Okay.

Melissa: 03:27

So and we've talked about we talked about the physical, how the ions actually are are sort of inhibiting the intermolecular forces.

Jam: 03:37

Right.

Melissa: 03:37

So that makes sense that it's the number of ions that it dissociates to. So thanks for that feedback, Bridget, it's so nice that you love our podcast. And, also, Bridget's been around since early days, and we've, like, messaged on Insta. So it's always fun. It's always fun to get to, like, Have friends through the podcast.

Melissa: 03:52

You know?

Jam: 03:53

Yeah. That's super cool. It's really cool how, like, there's names like that that we've seen so many times Yeah. Forever. Sometimes it's like, Well, then I will know somebody by their handle on on, like, Instagram right now.

Jam: 04:03

Especially, it's funny if it's like their handle's very different from their name.

Melissa: 04:06

Yeah.

Jam: 04:07

And that's always really Funny, but yeah. Anyway, thank you, Bridget. This next question is from Greg M, who's a high school chemistry teacher.

Melissa: 04:14

Look at all these high school teachers showing

Jam: 04:16

up. Seriously. Here's what Greg said. Hi, Melissa. You need twice as much bicarbonate to neutralize some acid compared to the amount of carbonate you knee you would need.

Jam: 04:27

So I think that's why it's called bicarbonate.

Melissa: 04:29

Because remember, I was like, why is this one called bicarbonate when There's only 1.

Jam: 04:36

I was

Melissa: 04:36

like, this is so confusing. So, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Thanks for that, Greg. Greg also asked a question, and I wanna point out both of these came in through our website.

Melissa: 04:50

So

Jam: 04:50

Nice.

Melissa: 04:51

If you'd he asked another question. Sorry. I should have said that. But he asked them both through our website. And and if case you don't know, if you go to chem for your life.com, can go to the contact us page, and it will submit your question directly to our email.

Melissa: 05:06

And you can say, you know, follow-up question or episode idea, And that really helps me when I'm sorting through, like, I can't go back and search my Instagram messages, but I can go back and search our email Right.

Jam: 05:18

And

Melissa: 05:18

I can look for those specifically. So if you have a question or an episode idea and maybe it's gotten lost or I never responded to it Yeah. We get a lot of emails and messages, so That is a good way to be sure that it's in my inbox and labeled as something that I should check on.

Jam: 05:35

Yeah. We we had a hard time with, like, the fact that You could we can be messaged in many, many ways, and there's some things that are like, oh, I see this, but I need to actually leave it unread so that Melissa will see it. And then sometimes it's like, wait. Where did we get that message? Was that on Instagram, or was that on email?

Jam: 05:49

Yeah. You'll notice probably about 20 episodes ago, we started saying, Submit your questions atchem for your life .com Mhmm. Only. Instead, we stopped saying Twitter, Instagram, Facebook because We're making it hard on ourselves.

Melissa: 06:01

So Yeah.

Jam: 06:02

But our apologies if your question or correction or idea or whatever has been missed. That is our desire is to be able to see them, respond to them, and Yeah.

Melissa: 06:12

For sure.

Jam: 06:13

Keep up with them. So this next one's from Audrey.

Melissa: 06:16

Oh, wait. We didn't do Greg's second question.

Jam: 06:19

Oh, you started saying okay.

Melissa: 06:20

Sorry. I got distracted. So I'll I'll say the The other question he asked

Jam: 06:23

is Back to Greg. Sorry, Greg.

Melissa: 06:24

I thought it was a really good question, and he did submit it as an episode idea, but I think I can quickly address it here referencing back to the nail polish So so he asked what chemical reaction happens when paint dries? If paint were just a mixture, I imagine you could just wash and dried Just washing a dried paint off again. And some paints are like that, but other paints set hard. So there must be a chemical reaction happening there. And what I think is happening is if you remember on the episode where we talked about nail polish, it's like There are things suspended in solvent.

Melissa: 07:01

And when the solvent dries, that layer is there as a polymer that forms.

Jam: 07:06

Right. Right.

Melissa: 07:07

I think that's typically what happens with paint is it's like particles suspended that then polymerize. And when the solvent evaporates, Then now there's nothing for them to move around in, so they're just kind of stuck.

Jam: 07:20

Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:21

And that is a long time ago, one of our supporters from back in the day asked us to do dry erase markers, and they have kind of that same principle where you can You can there like, there's something suspended in solvent, and then the solvent goes away and just the particles are left.

Jam: 07:39

Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:39

And, you know, when you scrape it away and it kind of has, like, Film, I think it's because it polymerizes as well. Okay. That's my guess. That's my chemistry off the cuff.

Jam: 07:49

Interesting. I remember, even when we talked about polymers and about, cast iron and stuff like that. I think you may have at one point used the analogy of Paint and how it's actually better to have, you know, multiple layers of paint

Melissa: 08:03

Yes.

Jam: 08:04

Like, multiple thin layers of a polymer of paint

Melissa: 08:06

Yep.

Jam: 08:06

Rather than 1 thick layer.

Melissa: 08:08

Yeah.

Jam: 08:08

And so I remember reading this question and thinking like, oh, I'm pretty sure Melissa said something about

Melissa: 08:13

Yeah.

Jam: 08:14

That. But, yeah, that is really interesting.

Melissa: 08:15

The thing I don't know is, like, is it actively polymerizing as it dries, or is it Already a like, little pieces of polymer that, like, just link up or something. I'm not super clear on that, but I think it is I my guess is it's literally polymerizing when you put it on the wall, but I have a friend who did a internship at a paint company, so she would know more. I think she might have sent me slides about it once. So maybe I can circle back and do a whole episode, but that's my quick answer.

Jam: 08:45

Nice. Nice.

Melissa: 08:46

Also, Greg signed off his message with cheers, and I think that's really nice. So thanks, Greg.

Jam: 08:52

This next question is from Audrey, and Audrey asked, so you discussed Teflon versus cast iron. But how do you feel about the new glass stockpot trend?

Melissa: 09:04

Okay. I have a few thoughts.

Jam: 09:07

Okay. 1st, could you explain what that even is to me? I have no idea what this is.

Melissa: 09:11

Yeah. I think it's literally people will use Glass pot so you can see through it.

Jam: 09:18

Okay. Okay. I mean and so it's like what it sounds like. Okay.

Melissa: 09:21

Yeah. And I've seen some cookware like that, like on TikTok, you know, where they're trying to make everything aesthetic. And And I guess it doesn't seem too weird to me because chemists always use glassware Oh, right. Think about it.

Jam: 09:35

Totally.

Melissa: 09:36

So using glassware to me It's like, oh, yeah. That's what we do. But I'm pretty sure that we even use Pyrex brand in the lab. But I'm pretty sure that Pyrex Brand has something in it called borosilicate, which makes it be able to withstand rapid temperature changes without breaking.

Jam: 09:54

Right.

Melissa: 09:55

But other Glass doesn't have that material in it, so it can if it goes from hot to cold really rapidly or vice versa, it can crack.

Jam: 10:05

Right. Right.

Melissa: 10:06

Which is why you're not supposed to put your Pyrex dishes or whatever in the oven while it's preheating because it goes from, because really hot while it's preheating, so it goes from room temperature to really hot suddenly.

Jam: 10:18

Right.

Melissa: 10:18

It could crack.

Jam: 10:19

Right.

Melissa: 10:19

Right. That's my guess about why you can't do that.

Jam: 10:22

Yeah.

Melissa: 10:22

So I think that's cool, and I like that you can see what's going on in there because that's what I liked about wearing using glassware in the lab. But I was worried If they put that borosilicate in there or not, like, is that resistant to the changes?

Jam: 10:38

Mhmm. I see.

Melissa: 10:39

And if it's not, I don't know. That just so makes me nervous.

Jam: 10:43

Right. I guess one nice thing is that you it would it would probably other than, like, the part that's right on the Burner? Yeah. With having a large mass of, like, water or whatever else you're cooking, it would probably slow things down.

Melissa: 10:57

And yeah. Hopefully, if it's full when you put it on there.

Jam: 11:02

Right.

Melissa: 11:02

Because water has the high heat capacity harken back to Episode 2 or whatever.

Jam: 11:08

Yeah. Right. Right.

Melissa: 11:09

And so, yeah, I had thought about that too, but what if you're just, like, cooking onions? And then you just like, you know, to prep, you know, how you sometimes saute? Yeah. So

Jam: 11:19

And based on, like, the the past episodes we've done, I think at least, like, On the I don't know what, like, harmful to the environment side or whatever.

Melissa: 11:28

Mhmm.

Jam: 11:29

At least glass cookware it sounds to me like just glass look where it's not, like, coated.

Melissa: 11:33

Right. That's what I thought too.

Jam: 11:35

Else. So I guess it might just be like, maybe these would break Sometimes after a couple of years, might that, but it's not a coated cookware that might have some of the baggage that we've talked about. Right?

Melissa: 11:48

Yeah.

Jam: 11:48

It seems like like that at least.

Melissa: 11:49

Yeah. That's what I thought too. It's like it doesn't it's environmentally friendly as much as other glass things. It would be recyclable, But would it stand up to normal everyday wear and tear?

Jam: 11:59

Right.

Melissa: 12:00

I have my phone open because I'm looking well, my notes are on my phone, but also I remember her saying I'll just have to guess. But I think she said that she, she likes it because you can watch the convection happening through the glass. Like, you can watch The particle is moving because it's glass. And when so convection is like, if something heats up, you know, it becomes less dense because the molecules are moving around more more spread out, they move to the top, and then the cold stuff sinks, and then that heats up. And so

Jam: 12:28

Oh, I see.

Melissa: 12:29

A little bit of a circular motion that sometimes happens that you don't often see

Jam: 12:33

Right.

Melissa: 12:34

But because it's in a pot. Yeah. But you can visualize it. So I think that's why she said she liked it. So I thought that was fun.

Jam: 12:40

Dang. Okay. Yeah.

Melissa: 12:42

So that's my thought is that I would be worried about it breaking, but for the most part, I think it'd be fine.

Jam: 12:47

Yeah. Interesting. I need to to explore this trend a little bit. I mean, I'm very happy with The cookware I have, but I hadn't heard about this. I'll have to look into it.

Melissa: 13:00

I like our stainless steel pots a lot. Yeah. We I think we got one that has, like, There's multiple different types of metal in the bottoms that it's supposed to heat more evenly.

Jam: 13:10

Oh, yeah. I've heard that a lot of times they'll put, like, a layer aluminum We

Melissa: 13:13

Yes.

Jam: 13:13

Yeah. Yep.

Melissa: 13:14

Yeah. I think that's what we have. So

Jam: 13:17

Okay. Now we're really getting into it. Ready? Is a hotdog a sandwich? Why or why not?

Jam: 13:24

And if not, what would it be? This is from Chelsea.

Melissa: 13:28

Tells you she's one of our, h bonder tier patrons, so you might be able to hear her voice if you're listening on audio. But if you're not, you're if you're watching.

Jam: 13:38

Now this came up this come up in an episode recently. Like, we're talking about something, and I said I have thoughts on this.

Melissa: 13:44

No. So this is why I included it. It's on our Patreon. You can go onto the page, and I will always ask our patrons on the page. I will specifically ask them there so that they get priority question asking.

Melissa: 13:57

Yep. And she had asked that, and then But it's after the episode we recorded last month, and Jam wrote, I wanna I have thoughts about this, and I want this to be on the next q and r. So I took a note down of that and included it because Jam has thoughts, but I also have thoughts. So I'm excited to share this, Chelsea. This is a good question.

Jam: 14:17

It really is. And shout out to The, Rhett and Link mythical chef

Melissa: 14:23

Oh, yeah.

Jam: 14:24

Guy.

Melissa: 14:24

His name's Josh.

Jam: 14:25

Yeah. It is. Mhmm. I can't remember his last name, but He has a show with one of the other team members of the mythical crew that is literally called this. I think they just debate food stuff.

Jam: 14:34

So, anyway, probably if you really love these kinds of debate y food questions, they're probably a good podcast.

Melissa: 14:39

Yeah. That would probably be a good podcast for you. So what are your thoughts? I'm dying to hear that. I've been waiting 3 weeks to hear these thoughts.

Jam: 14:53

You have to start and you also have to imagine that someone you can't really paint a picture. Like, a dictionary definition is literally just words. Right? If you describe the definition of a sandwich and go you know, I haven't looked this up. Okay?

Jam: 15:10

I'm just saying, like, a A pedestrian version.

Melissa: 15:12

Yeah. Like, you're deaf like, how would you define a sandwich?

Jam: 15:15

A hot dog would 100% meet all the criteria. Easy. Just so easy. Yeah. So one of the reasons I've kind of always had an opinion on this question is because I don't even think it's It's I read the question's kinda funny, so that's why Yeah.

Jam: 15:29

Gets passed around a lot, but it's an easy, easy answer. It's not even that debatable in my mind.

Melissa: 15:35

Okay. Well, here's why I have thoughts on it.

Jam: 15:37

Okay.

Melissa: 15:39

So one of the things that we do a lot in chemistry or or hopefully you do if you're not just memorizing things

Jam: 15:44

Mhmm.

Melissa: 15:44

Is you have to recognize patterns and identify similarities in situations, and that will really help you, especially in organic chemistry. If you can Understand. Oh, this behaved this way in this setting, so it's also in this way. So to start my semester with my students, usually, the very 1st day of class, I have I got this idea from someone else. So this I don't claim that I'm original here, but there's a picture.

Melissa: 16:08

I've put together a picture of 9 different thing. So it's like a pop tart, a hot dog, a a quesadilla, a regular sandwich, an open face sandwich, like, all these things. You know? Yeah. And I I have the students get together in groups and debate which one is a sandwich or not.

Jam: 16:27

Okay.

Melissa: 16:27

Just One, so that they can have practice identifying patterns, but in in a place that they're used to. You know? Right. But still have that practice, And, also, they get used talking to each other, and everyone has so many feelings about this person Yeah. That it's the best icebreaker at the beginning of the semester.

Melissa: 16:44

But I think it it's good, and it relates back to chemistry because we think that chemistry often is so black and white. I feel like that's the lesson we get taught when we're younger is, like, It is or it isn't. You know? And then as you grow up in the sciences and you learn more, it becomes a lot more gray. And I think that the sandwich question is gray.

Melissa: 17:04

Like, I agree with you about the hotdog. To me, that's pretty clear.

Jam: 17:07

Yep. But what

Melissa: 17:08

about the quesadilla? I mean, it's 2 pieces of bread with cheese in the middle.

Jam: 17:11

Right.

Melissa: 17:12

But it's also different cultural food, but then a pop tart, but all the edges are crimped. In an open face sandwich, that's 1 piece of bread. Why is that allowed to be a sealant?

Jam: 17:20

Yeah. Yeah. I think the open face sandwich is in the most trouble there. Also, because we have a category of pastry Mhmm. To me, pop tart is, like, Not nearly as debatable to include as a sandwich because we have a different category that is more similar too.

Jam: 17:34

Right?

Melissa: 17:35

That's true.

Jam: 17:36

But, yeah, hot dog, it has it has Bread on either side.

Melissa: 17:40

Mhmm.

Jam: 17:41

And, you know, most hot dogs have multiple ingredients, including, like, meat and vegetables and cheese And condiments, things like that. And we also we have sandwiches that are shaped that way too.

Melissa: 17:52

Subs baguettes and subs.

Jam: 17:54

Yeah. It's like it's not like it's like, oh, the way it's shaped disqualifies it. That's like, we have this is just sort of a smaller version

Melissa: 18:01

Yeah.

Jam: 18:02

Of Tons of, like, sub sandwiches.

Melissa: 18:04

That's so true.

Jam: 18:04

You know?

Melissa: 18:05

And if your bread on your on your hot dog breaks, which it's, like, really close to doing all the time. Yeah. You know? I also think it's really interesting because a lot of people will say a calzone is unequivocally not a sandwich, but the only difference Between the calzone and the hotdog, I guess the the hotdog bread is cooked before you put the meat in, which is similar to bread.

Jam: 18:27

Right.

Melissa: 18:27

But it's like you just crimp the edges, and now it's a calzone and not a not a sandwich anymore. But but I wonder if it's because of the dough. Yeah. And that's an example of, like, inherently, you have categorized things that you're like, it just feels wrong, but I can't define it.

Jam: 18:42

Right.

Melissa: 18:43

That's like, sometimes in chemistry, it's like, I just yeah. I don't know. I think that gray area is like that. There's something about this situation, you know, that I need to examine further and identify the underlying principles that just applies really well to being in a chemistry class. Yep.

Melissa: 19:01

Yeah. So that's a good question, Chelsea. Thanks for thanks for that. I also think it's a sandwich.

Jam: 19:07

Yeah. Very good question. Now Chelsea and others, Tell us what you think. Yeah. And if you have some, like, really mind blowingly, like, good reason to debate the opposite, but

Melissa: 19:16

it's not a

Jam: 19:16

sandwich, let us know. Rigidity about what we think about, Especially things like this that don't matter.

Melissa: 19:28

Don't matter.

Jam: 19:29

Yeah.

Melissa: 19:29

I I don't know. I think I could be open for debate on it, but is this hard for me to imagine an argument that would convince me? Like, haven't heard one before. Yeah. So someone we know always says to keep an open file on it.

Melissa: 19:41

So it's like, okay. There's an open file in my mind. Yeah. Yeah.

Jam: 19:45

I said open tab the other day, and somebody laughed at me using, like, Internet language.

Melissa: 19:51

That's funny.

Jam: 19:51

Okay. This next question, I'm very curious about because I did not know. Tim asked

Timothy: 19:56

Hi. I'm Timothy of Frisco, Texas, and I'm back again with another question. So when I was a kid, my parents would often complain about eating cucumbers, and then those cucumbers would repeat on them. So I've been wondering for quite a while now, why is it that eating cucumbers seems to upset people's stomachs?

Jam: 20:14

I don't I've never I've not experienced that. I didn't know the thing.

Melissa: 20:17

I haven't experienced it either because I don't like cucumbers, because I don't like vegetables That mostly taste like water and then have an aftertaste, and that's my opinion about cucumbers and celery.

Jam: 20:27

Yeah. I don't like either of them very much either. I like cucumbers a lot more than celery, though, because celery tastes kinda like dirt, but

Melissa: 20:33

Maybe you're just not washing it off very well.

Jam: 20:35

Well, it's like the water that got in it

Melissa: 20:37

is is It's dirty. Yeah. I don't like celery.

Jam: 20:40

Just saying. Anyway, Continue.

Melissa: 20:41

Okay. So I went kind of on a little journey though also because I didn't know.

Jam: 20:45

Oh, okay.

Melissa: 20:47

And, so I Googled first. And I'm not supposed to research for these episodes, but I broke the rule because I was curious. So I just was like, I'll just do a quick Google. And it said that they're The cucumbers are associated with an upset stomach due to a class of molecules called cucurbitacins.

Jam: 21:08

Okay.

Melissa: 21:09

I think it's probably, like, named after a cucumber type thing or one's named after the other. Yeah. So then what I do that I know that other people would do because to me, that's not a satisfying answer. I'm like, oh, you just have this class of molecules, and you just say it causes upset stomach, but I wanna know why. Right.

Jam: 21:24

Right.

Melissa: 21:24

So then I googled the class of molecules, and I found this cool article from the American Chemical Society. And I'm gonna read parts of to you. I did trim it up a little, but most of this is a direct quote, and we'll put the link in our show notes.

Jam: 21:36

Okay.

Melissa: 21:36

So and it made me say, oh, that's cool. So I wanted to share it with all of you. Okay. So cucurbitases, I'm making that up, are terpenes, not the class of molecules. How to say it?

Melissa: 21:49

Cucurbitacins are terpenes with steroidal oh, sorry. Cucurbitacins are terpenes that are isolated from plants of the family such as pumpkins, gourds, and cucumbers. Ancient people used medicinally, but they also recognized their toxic properties. Medicinal uses included emetics, narcotics, and antimalarials. Antimalarials.

Melissa: 22:20

So ant against malaria.

Jam: 22:21

Wow.

Melissa: 22:23

So more recent studies, they've identified a lot of different types of these molecules. But more recently, scientists found that despite the fruit's bitter taste, prehistoric animals such as mastodons and mammoths ate wild cucurbits and Distributed their seeds in in the excrement. So you know how sometimes animals will eat things, and then they'll go poop it out, and that's how new plants get made? Mhmm. Okay.

Melissa: 22:48

So they found that they did that, which is surprising because they were very bitter, like the ancient version of these plants. And so as those ancient beasts died out and became extinct, so did those plants. But then humans found that they could eat the cucurbit seeds, Usually, by washing off whatever on the outside made them bitter, and then they slowly domesticated them over time by selecting the less and less bitter seeds. And that's how they made this more palatable class of vegetables that like squash, gourds, and cucumbers. And that particular molecule is associated with an upset stomach.

Melissa: 23:27

It also Interestingly, some of them are toxic. But also, like I said, they also have, you know, medicinal properties, and some are, like, even antitumor tumerial. I asked for crazy. Tumors. Yeah.

Melissa: 23:41

So I went I went all on this little path where Tim asked that question, and then I thought, That's weird. So I Googled it, and then I Googled another thing. And then the American Chemical Society had it on the model molecule of the wheat.

Jam: 23:55

Dang. That's awesome.

Melissa: 23:56

So I thought that was interesting.

Jam: 23:58

Yeah. That's Still.

Melissa: 24:09

But it's fun to hear about its history.

Jam: 24:10

Yeah. A 100%.

Melissa: 24:12

I'm gonna read the next thing too because Tim Tim chimed in with a thought about what was happening when we remove stains from Tupperware.

Jam: 24:19

Right.

Melissa: 24:20

Do you remember Avishai asked about that?

Jam: 24:22

Yeah.

Melissa: 24:22

Okay. So I'm gonna read you Tim's thoughts Because I think it'll be easier for me to read it.

Jam: 24:27

Cool.

Melissa: 24:27

Because it's all chemistry words.

Jam: 24:29

Sounds good. I'm interested.

Melissa: 24:31

So Tim said, we know that paper towels absorb fluids via capillary action and that intermolecular forces play a role in this. From anecdotal experience, I've noticed Grease and oil don't absorb as readily, but they seem also more difficult to remove from the paper towel. So what I think is happening is that as the micelles so that's like the, when the soap if you go back and listen to our very first So the soap sort of forms a circle. You're a spherical ball around grease and dirt particles. Those are called micelles.

Jam: 25:04

Okay.

Melissa: 25:06

So When the micelles enter the paper towel, they're somehow becoming trapped in the pack pockets between the cellulose fibers. That's the best thought I can give to as to how they're trapped in that how they're trapped. So that basically, they he thinks that the soap Circles the oil, and it then gets trapped in the cellulose fibers. But that made me think of something else Uh-huh. Which is, what if the oil has the pigments in it.

Melissa: 25:42

Mhmm.

Jam: 25:42

The

Melissa: 25:43

red pigments, they get stuck in the Tupperware. And what he said about oil being harder to remove from paper towels, I wonder if oil and paper towels have kind of a a strong attraction. And so when the paper towel is present, It draws the oil out and the pigments come with it.

Jam: 26:02

Oh.

Melissa: 26:04

So I don't know.

Jam: 26:05

Yeah.

Melissa: 26:05

But those are Tim's thoughts. And part of what I love about the q and r's is that we get to brainstorm together. And even another listener messaged me and said They liked that about q and r's? Because I mentioned that I usually don't research for them, and she said, good job. I love the way that q and r's are things that we can all brainstorm together.

Melissa: 26:23

So I thought that that was really fun. And if you have thoughts you wanna share, hit us up. And Tim is also a chemist, and he's training to be a chemistry teacher. So He, I think, was thinking about that as well. Yeah.

Melissa: 26:35

So that's my thought is that maybe the capillary action between the oil and the paper towel, like, Sucks the oils out. It's a stronger attraction than just soap and water. Yep. And then the oils get trapped there, bringing the pigment out with them.

Jam: 26:48

Interesting.

Melissa: 26:49

But who knows? Yeah. They just made that up. Yeah. Everything's made up.

Melissa: 26:54

Just kidding. Okay.

Jam: 26:56

Avishai sent us this question, which is pretty funny. And I've noticed this too as a layperson just that, like, this is a common theme in all sorts of, like if you look up They're just chemists and chemistry related, stock photos Mhmm. That basically They always look so colorful. All the things in the photos look colorful. All of the chemicals look really colorful Yeah.

Jam: 27:20

And all that stuff. And he was like, why is that always the case?

Melissa: 27:23

He also said, when in the organic lab course I took, I always ended with white powder. That made me laugh so hard because I have a picture of myself, and we can post it on Instagram when I worked in a lab in a lab coat holding something Colorful and but my students always did end up with white powder in their labs. I think that's because here's my theory, is that in organic chemistry labs, you're working with more simple molecules like caffeine or things like that that are are short, So they're small. So they don't have long layers of those alternating double bonds that get us brightly colored, items. Right.

Melissa: 28:04

So I think they're making simple molecules, and that's why they always end up being white powder. But in more advanced labs, sometimes they're all white powder too. It just kinda depends what you're doing. But I worked on molecules that captured sunlight, so mine really were brightly colored. So I was actually holding a flask with my molecule in it in this picture, but A lot of other people will just put water and food coloring because it makes the flask stand out more in pictures.

Melissa: 28:31

So I think that that that's my theory is that it looks cooler and more sciency and and really makes the blasks stand out, so they just put food Coloring and water. Right. But mine is real.

Jam: 28:43

Yeah. So I've seen that picture. I've never even showed it to me before. Like, just the color and those very pretty, the, like the way you had in your specific

Melissa: 28:49

Yeah. But I got to make really beautiful molecules. I even had one that was this deep teal, but when you evaporated all the solvent out of it, it was Barkly red like glitter.

Jam: 29:01

Wow.

Melissa: 29:01

It's so beautiful. That's, like, one of the only things I miss about being in the lab is It was just a lot of things were really beautiful. Okay. Well, that's it, I think. Thank you so much for sending your questions.

Jam: 29:16

Yes. We loved those questions. Thanks for asking them your ideas, your comments, your deep chemistry questions, your fun Hot dog related questions, all those, we love them. Please send those to us. You can reach out to us on our website atchem for your life.com to share your thoughts, your ideas, your questions.

Jam: 29:32

To help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, you can go to patreon.com/chem for your life or tap the link in our show notes to join our super cool community of patrons. If you're not able to do that, you can still help us by subscribing on our favorite podcast app and rating and writing our view on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us to share chemistry with even more people.

Melissa: 29:50

This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Colini and Jam Robinson. Jam Robinson is our producer, and this episode was made possible by our Financial supporters over on Patreon. Also, you heard a lot of their questions today. It means so much to us that you wanna help us make chemistry accessible for even more people. Those supporters are Avishai B, Brie M, Brian K, Chris and Claire S, Chelsea B, Derek L, Emerson W, Hunter r, Jacob t, Christina g, Lynn s, Melissa p, Nicole c, Steven b, Shadow, Suzanne s, Timothy p, and Venus r.

Melissa: 30:29

Thanks again for everything you do to make chemistry for your life happen. We're so lucky that we get to live out our science communication dreams every week on this podcast.

Jam: 30:38

Thanks, guys.