Melissa: 00:09

Hey. I'm Melissa.

Jam: 00:10

I'm Jam.

Melissa: 00:11

And I'm a chemist. And I'm not. And welcome to Chemistry For Your Life.

Jam: 00:15

The podcast helps you understand the chemistry

Melissa: 00:19

of your everyday life. Jam, it's about to be a new year tomorrow.

Jam: 00:22

Woah. Really? Already?

Melissa: 00:24

Yeah. Well, Not for us because we're actually recording this episode on December 2nd. But

Jam: 00:31

I will say, I think even if we're recording this on, Like, right before New Year's, I would still feel that way because it's like, this is the thing that you see every meme on every social media platform saying right now is that 2020 has been very, like, what? It's felt like Oh, Definitely. Insanely long and also incredibly short. Like, it feels like we just had a New Year's to me a little bit.

Melissa: 00:55

It's because nothing happened this year except everything. You know?

Jam: 00:58

Yeah. Nothing happened except for in

Melissa: 01:00

our houses. Yeah.

Jam: 01:02

Nothing happened except for things that got in the way of all things that we wouldn't happen.

Melissa: 01:05

Right. Exactly. That's a great way to

Jam: 01:07

put it. It's like I never got started on All the things that I wanted to do because of this thing, this virus. So

Melissa: 01:13

That's exactly right. Well, in light of that, thought a fitting topic to send 2020 off is an explosion. Let's just explode 2020.

Jam: 01:22

I'm down for that as long as nobody gets hurt.

Melissa: 01:25

So This explosion that we're gonna send 2020 off with is fireworks. I guess everyone who reads the episode name already knows that, but you don't.

Jam: 01:34

I'm sure sure I don't know, but I did start to put it together when you talked about New Year's and explosions. And the typical explosions we experience at New Year's are mostly fireworks.

Melissa: 01:43

So That's true. That's true.

Jam: 01:45

It should be, anyway.

Melissa: 01:46

So we're gonna talk about fireworks. And even before I start, I wanna say that I got a lot of this from an article by Kathy d Antonis, And that's from something on the American Chemical Society website. So we'll link to that. But since I got so much of it from her, I wanted to give her credit.

Jam: 02:02

Nice. Awesome.

Melissa: 02:04

Okay. So there are 2 components to fireworks that we're gonna talk about today.

Jam: 02:08

Okay.

Melissa: 02:10

1, the explosion part of it.

Jam: 02:12

Mhmm.

Melissa: 02:13

And 2, the sparkly lights, the lights that we see.

Jam: 02:17

Okay. Gotcha.

Melissa: 02:19

We're gonna talk about both of those things today.

Jam: 02:22

Okay.

Melissa: 02:24

So the light part is a little bit of a review, why we see the colors of fireworks and why it has light at all. So we're gonna talk about that first.

Jam: 02:31

Okay.

Melissa: 02:33

So there's 2 things that cause fireworks to glow.

Jam: 02:38

Mhmm.

Melissa: 02:39

1 is the metal gets really, really hot hot, And then it will have a glow just from being hot.

Jam: 02:50

Oh, interesting. Okay.

Melissa: 02:52

The electrons are moving, so it gives us energy and heat and light.

Jam: 02:56

So it's like little pieces of metal?

Melissa: 03:00

It's like the atoms are moving around.

Jam: 03:03

Okay. Okay.

Melissa: 03:04

So that's one thing. The other type of light is hopefully one that sounds familiar to you because we talked about it on last week's episode about LEDs And on the glow sticks episode and on the fire Halloween episode. So we've talked about this a lot.

Jam: 03:20

Right.

Melissa: 03:21

But electrons falling from a higher energy level to a lower energy level, it gives off energy, and sometimes that's in the form of light.

Jam: 03:30

Right. Right. Right.

Melissa: 03:32

Okay. So the heated light is known as incandescent light.

Jam: 03:36

Mhmm. You may

Melissa: 03:38

have heard that because it's the same thing that heats light bulbs and that Filament in the light bulbs?

Jam: 03:42

Mhmm.

Melissa: 03:43

Or the other one is known as iridescent light.

Jam: 03:49

Oh, iridescent. Yeah. I have not heard that word very much.

Melissa: 03:53

Right. So the one that you've probably seen more often in your fireworks is actually the iridescent light.

Jam: 03:59

Okay.

Melissa: 04:00

This is responsible the thing responsible for this is metal salts.

Jam: 04:05

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 04:05

And they absorb the energy like we talked about. Their electrons jump up to the higher energy level, and then they reemit that energy. And when they reemit it, when the electrons are falling buck back down to the lower energy levels, That energy let off as light is in a specific amount specific amount of energy.

Jam: 04:25

Mhmm.

Melissa: 04:26

And that amount has a characteristic color associated with it.

Jam: 04:31

Okay. Gotcha. Because of where it falls on the spectrum?

Melissa: 04:39

Yes. The electromagnetic spectrum is probably what you're thinking?

Jam: 04:41

Yes. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa: 04:43

Yes. So it'd be a different wavelength, a different frequency, and that will cause it to have a different color when it hits our eyes.

Jam: 04:51

Got it. Okay. Cool. So they just the metal salts kinda already have A wavelength that they each different metal salt would want to give off as its energy levels come back down?

Melissa: 05:05

Yes. As the electrons fall from a higher energy level to a lower energy level, there's almost like a predetermined amount that it will give off, and that has the specific color that goes with it.

Jam: 05:16

Got it. Okay. Got it.

Melissa: 05:18

So, like, strontium salts are pink and Copper salts, I believe it's copper salts that we used in the green fire episode, are green.

Jam: 05:27

Mhmm.

Melissa: 05:28

So that's what that color comes down to.

Jam: 05:31

Got it. Interesting. That's cool.

Melissa: 05:34

So what they do in fireworks is there's an aerial shell, And that's literally a shell that's filled with a bunch of stuff like an eggshell. Mhmm. And it gets pushed up into the air, and that's why it's called an aerial shell.

Jam: 05:49

Mhmm.

Melissa: 05:50

And inside that aerial shell, there's some gunpowder, but there's also little globs of Material Mhmm. That are made up of more fuel, more gunpowder, some other fuel maybe, Metal salts and a binder that will hold them together in globs.

Jam: 06:12

Okay.

Melissa: 06:13

So when we'll get into more of this later, but when those burn, that's where we see the color.

Jam: 06:20

Okay. Got it.

Melissa: 06:22

Okay. So that's the color from fireworks.

Jam: 06:25

Okay.

Melissa: 06:27

Literally, all you have to do to make fireworks be pretty colors is mix in some metal salts, some strontium, some calcium, some copper, some Maybe combinations to get purple. You know? They'll have different colored salts going on in there, and that's all you have to do to get the different color of your fire.

Jam: 06:47

And maybe even some kosher, salt, just, you know, whatever.

Melissa: 06:52

That would be table salt, which would you're thinking of sodium, and that actually burns yellow, which could give you a cool firework, but doesn't isn't super fun when you're doing it in the fire because it's already yellow, so people don't really be. They can't really see it at all.

Jam: 07:04

Right. Right. Right. Okay. Fair enough.

Melissa: 07:07

So that's the color part of your firework.

Jam: 07:09

Okay.

Melissa: 07:10

That's why we see the beautiful colors in the air. But How does it even get into the air? Mhmm. What's going on with these explosions? Yes.

Melissa: 07:21

That's more chemistry.

Jam: 07:23

Okay. Good. Because I was hoping it we were gonna be like, well, that's something else. So that's physics. Bye.

Melissa: 07:28

That's magic. Bye. Okay. So what happens is when you're trying to lift the aerial shell into the air, you put it into a container called a mortar.

Jam: 07:38

Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:39

And there is usually a little packet, I'm gonna say, of gunpowder. It's not really a packet as we would think of it, but an amount of gunpowder underneath the aerial shell.

Jam: 07:51

Okay.

Melissa: 07:53

And that burns. And gunpowder itself doesn't explode. A lot of people think that it does, but it actually just burns. And when it burns, it's a chemical reaction that releases heat and gas, and it's releasing both of those very quickly. And as it's releasing more gas, that gas is being heated, and that's building the pressure.

Melissa: 08:12

So there's pressure from the gas and pressure from it being heated, And that pressure at some point will reach a critical point, and that's your explosion.

Jam: 08:21

Nice.

Melissa: 08:23

So your explosion is really from the buildup of pressure. It's not that you light gunpowder on fire and it explodes.

Jam: 08:30

Okay. Okay. It's interesting because I feel like yeah. That's the thing that happens in movies where somebody drops a match on a pile of gun powder, and then it's like an explosion. But it has plenty of space To burn, I guess, technically.

Jam: 08:41

So it's like wouldn't really probably explode, at least not immediately.

Melissa: 08:45

Yeah. I think I don't think yeah. I think it would have to require some kind of confined space for it to actually explode.

Jam: 08:52

Mhmm.

Melissa: 08:53

Think, Theoretically, don't try this at home, and I have never tried it myself. But I would think lighting gunpowder just out by itself would just Start a little fire or start a a fast fire.

Jam: 09:06

Mhmm.

Melissa: 09:08

That's what I think.

Jam: 09:09

Interesting.

Melissa: 09:10

It does Generate oxygen according to one of the websites that I read, and that oxygen means that it can't be smothered by just covering it up the way you can cover up other fire. It's its own oxygen source gunpowder is, so that's kind of

Jam: 09:25

a cool fact. Interesting. Yeah. I think that that would really mess people up if they We're messing with it, and we're ready to put it out a different way.

Melissa: 09:33

And that's actually why fireworks won't go out if you try to smother them. So it's dangerous to try to smother fireworks. Don't do that. They're going to still go off because gunpowder generates its own oxygen.

Jam: 09:43

Dang.

Melissa: 09:43

So just get away. Yeah.

Jam: 09:46

Yeah. Dang. Yeah. And get help.

Melissa: 09:48

And get help. And just be really careful when you're using fireworks. They are not to be used without the supervision of an adult. Be really careful because it can burn really, really hot.

Jam: 09:58

And as an adult who doesn't always make the best choices, it should be supervised by an adult who is safe Oh, and adults, I'm looking at you because I'm just like you. You should also be sick.

Melissa: 10:11

Don't let your kids do crazy stuff like Roman candle matches.

Jam: 10:14

And don't let Bad idea. Oh, yeah. I don't let the kid inside of you go against your better judgment. That's my thing. I'm like there's this part of me where I'm like, dude, mom and dad aren't here to make me not do stuff.

Jam: 10:24

So if I'm buying fireworks, The part of me that wants to do unsafe things that I never got to do as a kid kinda comes out a little bit.

Melissa: 10:31

No. Don't do it. Don't do it.

Jam: 10:33

I'm just saying the part of me that wants to. It's like I have to actual actively, you know, tell myself not to.

Melissa: 10:39

Gotta fight it.

Jam: 10:40

Yeah.

Melissa: 10:41

So that's the 1st explosion that sends your container that holds all your metal salts that are gonna color your fire up into the air. Mhmm. Mhmm. And, usually, As part of that initial lighting on fire, there's a delayed time fuse as well. So the fire that starts with the gunpowder.

Melissa: 10:59

We'll usually ignite a delayed fuse as well. Mhmm. So that when your shell is Up in the air, far, far away from the ground, then that gunpowder will also light on fire.

Jam: 11:12

Okay.

Melissa: 11:13

So then you have the same reaction. Your gunpowder is burning. It's producing oxygen. It's getting really hot. Hot air expands really rapidly, and so you're gonna have your same explosion just up in the middle of the air.

Jam: 11:27

Mhmm.

Melissa: 11:28

And that explosion will send your metal salt globs all over while they burn. Mhmm.

Jam: 11:33

And

Melissa: 11:34

you'll Get to see the beautiful colors from your metal salts absorbing and reemitting energy as they fly through the air.

Jam: 11:42

Wow. So weird. I know. So and that's I mean, I guess, like, the standard shape of firework is that Those lights are going in every direction. You know?

Jam: 11:57

So it's really pretty random, I guess, you could say. At least in The most standard firework is that it's just gonna spray in every direction everywhere. So it's, like, just gonna look cool no matter what.

Melissa: 12:07

Well, you'll get more information on that later. But, yes, the standard firework, if you just have random globs all over, it's gonna just go all over.

Jam: 12:16

Nice. It seems like so crazy trying to Figure out a way to make it be not random. Like, that sounds way hard.

Melissa: 12:23

Well, it's funny that you should mention that because One of the fun facts I'll just tell you now, but one of the fun facts I was gonna reward you with today Uh-huh. Is to get the arrangement of the shapes that we see, they arrange those Globs of metal salts inside the shell. They call those stars, but I was worried that would be too confusing because sometimes fireworks look kinda like stars.

Jam: 12:43

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 12:44

But so they arranged those little globs of metal salts in the shell inside the shell so that when they explode, those will go in the right directions to make the right Shape. Isn't it crazy that they could anticipate that and control it?

Jam: 12:58

Lee, that is so crazy. That just, to me, just seems like wouldn't even know how to do that other than just tons of trial and error and stuff Mhmm. That still seems like it would be so unpredictable in a lot of ways. I think partly just because, like, Things, like, hurling through the air and exploding just seems so so hard to, like, predict down to a science like that that I would have such a hard time imagining being able to make a shape out of Yeah. Exploding things.

Melissa: 13:26

Yeah. Isn't that wild? I don't know if they could do it perfectly, like make it into stars or anything like that.

Jam: 13:31

Mhmm. But I

Melissa: 13:32

do think they have some control over the direction it goes into. Yeah. But they might be able to do it perfectly if you're a real fire expert firework expert.

Jam: 13:39

In some of the cooler fireworks, it's really just almost seems like rings of colors, which would not be that hard. You make, like, some globs closer to maybe, like, the middle. Mhmm. So, obviously, when they explode out, the ones that are on the first outside and I go further first or whatever. And so that'd be relatively simple, I guess.

Jam: 13:58

Just pick some different salts and have them on different layers or something like that. So Right. Exactly. Yeah. Okay.

Jam: 14:04

Yeah. That's not crazy complicated, but still very cool.

Melissa: 14:06

It is very cool.

Jam: 14:08

Okay. So, now that I've been given one fun fact, should I try to say back to you what I know so far?

Melissa: 14:17

I think you should.

Jam: 14:19

Okay. So let me start kind of at the beginning from when we all light the firework. We Lot of fuse. That part's kinda simple, I guess. It's just like burning or whatever.

Jam: 14:32

But it gets to the bottom of the firework, which has one part of the gunpowder.

Melissa: 14:39

Mhmm.

Jam: 14:40

And that burns really quickly and That explodes, but burns really quickly and gives off oxygen, which helps the burning even happen even faster. And

Melissa: 14:52

Mhmm.

Jam: 14:53

When things are getting hot, they need to expand. There's just all this energy being released all at once pretty much. Right?

Melissa: 14:59

Right.

Jam: 15:00

And

Melissa: 15:01

Really quick release of energy.

Jam: 15:02

And in all of these, a lot of these really cool fireworks, you have that tube. And so the only place it's all building up, and no place for the firework to go is up.

Melissa: 15:10

Right.

Jam: 15:11

All is being released and just shoots up in the air.

Melissa: 15:14

Mhmm.

Jam: 15:15

But then So our firework is hurtling toward so fast toward Mars.

Melissa: 15:23

A 100%. I don't know if it's toward Mars. Depends probably where we are in the rotations. Yeah.

Jam: 15:27

Oh, that's true. Could be anywhere. Very fast toward outer space. And Mhmm. Thankfully, there's other gunpowder, and I guess a delayed a delayed fuse, so they're not just shooting an object up into the sky.

Jam: 15:45

You know?

Melissa: 15:46

Right.

Jam: 15:47

And that's all waiting for a chance, waiting for its time to shine with another fuse inside there that's just kind of burning.

Melissa: 15:57

Mhmm.

Jam: 15:58

And when the time is right, it reaches that. The second amount of gunpowder Lights, the same thing happens, except for instead of shooting a direction, like, one direction, it just goes out everywhere.

Melissa: 16:13

Yes.

Jam: 16:14

While at the same time, getting those those globs of metal salts very, very hot Really fast and then shooting them all in different directions. And what we've learned from Previous episodes about light and injury levels and stuff. Different things as they're coming down from a really high energy situation like an explosion, in this case, will sometimes release show that energy being released and coming back down

Melissa: 16:52

Right.

Jam: 16:52

With something we can see, which is light.

Melissa: 16:55

Yep.

Jam: 16:56

And I was thinking, like we've talked about this a few times. But in this case, one one thing that came to mind was, what if You view the explosion as, like, a stressful situation. So we we've all experienced stress and anxiety of some kind, whether it's like

Melissa: 17:12

Mhmm.

Jam: 17:12

Say you just get text message or email or call is like, hey. Something really important is due tomorrow at work tomorrow.

Melissa: 17:20

Okay.

Jam: 17:21

We all can relate to, like, be like, that's, not great. But

Melissa: 17:26

Mhmm.

Jam: 17:27

We all could experience the same sort of situation, But react a little differently while react.

Melissa: 17:34

Oh, yes.

Jam: 17:35

And so some of us might be blue. Must be pink, red, green, whatever Mhmm. In the way that these metal salts do. Mhmm. And many of us will react the same way across many different social situations and explosions.

Jam: 17:53

That's just how we are. I'm probably gonna react the same way to something really sudden and stressful Mhmm. Almost every time. And you, the same way Almost every time. It's not perfect because, obviously, not every situation like that is the same.

Jam: 18:08

But when you're talking about a gunpowder explosion, It's probably pretty similar. And, really, the the the stressful thing isn't the thing that makes a difference. It's the each Person or, in this case, each metal salt is different and has a slightly different way of showing its energy level changing. New electrons going from being really excited to getting less excited.

Melissa: 18:36

Yes.

Jam: 18:37

Is that right?

Melissa: 18:38

Wow. That was really good. That's right. Yeah. You said we each react differently, and that's You know, I don't want people to think the it's not really a reaction.

Melissa: 18:48

It's just energy being accepted and absorbed. And I know you clarified that later, but I just, you know, wanna make sure everybody knows it's not a reaction. And, also, while you were talking, I was thinking I'm not sure if I clarified, but I think the gunpowder or the fuel sometimes they have fuel and oxidizing agent mixed into those Gloves that have the metal salt all in them. There's, like, a bunch of stuff in there. So those that can be burning, they also catch on fire and are burning while

Jam: 19:17

Got it.

Melissa: 19:17

They're flying through the air, but then the fire is what's colored Right. That we see.

Jam: 19:21

Right. Just like green fire. It's like Mhmm. Yeah. It is a

Melissa: 19:25

colored fire or giving off light, it might be a combination of both, but there's more than just there's there is gunpowder in there. It's not just metal salts.

Jam: 19:33

Right. Right. And just like how the in the green fire thing, the salt changes the color, but it's so fire. It's not like it's something else completely different Or whatever.

Melissa: 19:42

Right.

Jam: 19:42

Yeah.

Melissa: 19:43

Yeah. And so I'm not a 100% clear. And 1 resource said there's gunpowder in those, and another resource said another oxidizing agent in fuel. But either way, there's something that lights on fire. And Yeah.

Melissa: 19:57

Either way, there is light being given off in a specific wavelength that is a color to the human eye.

Jam: 20:04

And they're all and they reliably have different wavelengths. Each salt metal salt Gives off

Melissa: 20:10

Yes.

Jam: 20:11

A different wavelength reliably. You couldn't just make such and such metal salt be whatever color you wanted it to be.

Melissa: 20:17

Correct. And if you want a good visual aid of that, there's a cool website called CompoundChem. I've mentioned them before. They make visual aids for things.

Jam: 20:25

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 20:26

And It's not a peer reviewed journal. It's, I think, a professor or a teacher who makes these graphics, but I always compare them against another source. And in this case, he does have accurate information. He has every time, actually, that I've ever found, but I'm nervous to not use a peer reviewed journal or a textbook. So he's kind of a supplementary source that I'll check out On occasion?

Melissa: 20:47

Uh-huh. But he has a really, really good diagram of the different colors of salts arranged in a firework Nice. Sort of picture that's really nice that you can go check out. It's compound chem, and we'll link to the chemistry of fireworks page in our references.

Jam: 21:02

Nice. Awesome.

Melissa: 21:03

Well, that's a really good job, Jam. So that's a good representation of fireworks. So now Out at New Year's when they're at your New Year's Eve party this evening, when they're lighting those fireworks, you can look up at the sky and know That it's all just metal salts and everything is coming back around to chemistry.

Jam: 21:22

Dang. That is crazy. That is very, very cool.

Melissa: 21:26

So before we wrap it up, here's one fun fact for you now that you've wrapped that up so nicely for us

Jam: 21:32

Okay.

Melissa: 21:32

Since you exploited your other fun fact earlier.

Jam: 21:37

Tricked you into selling it to me early.

Melissa: 21:39

You tricked me. So the loud noise that you hear when the fireworks go off is actually a sonic boom.

Jam: 21:48

Woah.

Melissa: 21:49

A sonic boom is what happens when gas or other particles are moving faster than speed of sound through the air, and that's how intense the explosion of works is.

Jam: 21:59

Wow. Interesting. That is crazy.

Melissa: 22:04

I know. It's so interesting. And one source I read said, I think that fireworks can burn upwards of a 1000 degrees.

Jam: 22:13

Jeez.

Melissa: 22:14

Is crazy. A 1000 degrees Celsius.

Jam: 22:17

Gosh. That is crazy.

Melissa: 22:18

So that's 10 times as hot as boiling water.

Jam: 22:22

Gosh. Dude, very weird. Mhmm. That makes sense. I mean, that's, like, those are dangerous, dude.

Jam: 22:28

Like, you don't wanna be anywhere near something that is gonna when it explodes, be that hot. Like

Melissa: 22:34

Oh, a 100%.

Jam: 22:35

Don't play with that.

Melissa: 22:37

Well, that wraps up our last chemistry lesson of the year, which is crazy. Mhmm. And I think Maybe to wrap up the overall lesson, instead of just thinking about something happy from this week, let's think back on the year Okay. And share something about 2020, which has been a really hard year for all of us that we really appreciated or liked or enjoyed. What do you think?

Jam: 23:01

I like it. Mine's easy easy to pick mine, so I'm sorry.

Melissa: 23:05

Oh, yeah. You have a big old gimme, don't you?

Jam: 23:08

Uh-huh. You played right into my hand.

Melissa: 23:11

So I'll go first since you already know yours, and it's probably gonna be really easy.

Jam: 23:15

Mhmm.

Melissa: 23:16

This year has been really, really good. Actually, I it's been a hard year for everyone. You know? I've had a lot of fun stuff personally, and just this whole pandemic is really hard.

Jam: 23:25

But

Melissa: 23:25

Yeah. I love my job. I love my research. I love this podcast. It's just incredible that we get to live out These science communication dreams, I never thought I'd be able to do something like this and reach so many people.

Melissa: 23:38

It makes me so happy every time I hear from you guys. So that is definitely a top Contender. Mhmm. But seems silly to say the podcast is my favorite thing on the podcast. So, I think I'm gonna say this year, I've gotten really close to my boyfriend, Mason, and he's just been Really a rock for me through a very, very hard year.

Jam: 24:01

Mhmm.

Melissa: 24:02

And I think that relationship and the way it's grown and How just fun it is has been something that's really made this year a lot better. I think that's what I'm gonna say for this year.

Jam: 24:14

Nice. Dude, that's great. That is great. Shout out Mason.

Melissa: 24:18

Shout out Mason. And Jam and him are also become even better friends because of it. So that's kinda nice too.

Jam: 24:23

Very true. Yeah. He's super cool. Great answer. I'll say I'll give a little shout out to the podcast also because it's been an awesome year for the podcast.

Jam: 24:31

And we had just 6 months of the podcast before the change of a year last time. Mhmm. And so now it's kinda crazy to have a a full year and a half of this On our belts. And 23 was huge in terms of, like, lots of new listeners. We're so glad you guys are listening.

Jam: 24:47

So glad you guys found us. And that's been super cool to watch that just grow and people just organically find it, or there's, like they're having to learn remotely. So we are looking for Things like podcasts, and so we're so glad to be available to you guys.

Melissa: 25:01

Yeah. Thank you guys so much.

Jam: 25:03

But my real answer is If the the gimme that Melissa already knew what I was gonna say is that had a baby this year, so that's clearly gotta be my answer. And not just

Melissa: 25:14

Oh, definitely.

Jam: 25:14

Obligatory, but it's also very, very true. In a year of many downsides and tough things for all of us. And I experienced just those alongside a lot of you guys as well. Like, work uncertainty, not getting to see friends and family and all kinds of stuff, having friends and family that actually get COVID and having to, You know, from a distance, be hoping that they're gonna be okay. Just stuff like that that's something so hard.

Melissa: 25:36

Yeah.

Jam: 25:36

Having a baby has been really, really great, and certainly would not have wished for him to be born in the middle of this and not get to meet people and not have and then people meet meet him. That's been, you You know, certainly a downside, but in general, been so great to have a kid. And I am in love with being a dad and love Just getting to hang with my son, and he's been so fun. He is just yeah. It's been great.

Jam: 26:05

So Huge highlight of my year, it really overshadows a lot of the bad.

Melissa: 26:12

Yeah. Definitely.

Jam: 26:13

Very easily for me, at least.

Melissa: 26:15

And you guys were there the moment I found out that Jim and and were having a baby, which is crazy.

Jam: 26:20

Yeah. Yeah. We released that one. It was, like, basically, early January last year. So Mhmm.

Jam: 26:25

I think so.

Melissa: 26:27

And he has brought me a lot of joy too even though I don't get to hold him and snuggle him every minute of day like I wish I could. He has a he has a pretty good photo stream where he's looking cute and being sweet, so I'm really thankful for him too.

Jam: 26:41

Yeah. It's been yeah. It's really fun. And so easy, you know, mushy, gushy, corny answer. Kinda from both I guess from both of us, both of our answers are kinda like that, so at least we're in the same boat.

Melissa: 26:54

Well, looking back on a year is pretty nostalgic.

Jam: 26:57

Yeah. Well, in

Melissa: 26:58

the name of Nostalgia, this was a good episode, and this was a great year. And I'm really, really thankful that we get to do this. So thanks so much, Jam, for Producing such a great quality product and for being game to learn a new chemistry lesson every single week. And thanks so much to all of you listeners for coming and Listening and being excited about chemistry and reaching out to us and asking questions, I can't tell you how much it means to me, and I'm really looking forward to what 2021 is gonna bring for all of us.

Jam: 27:26

Yes. Me too. Yeah. You guys are the best, and y'all's questions and ideas are so fun to receive and hear. And, that's when we can just get, like, a a message Or video or question that's like, hey.

Jam: 27:37

Is this thing that I saw the same thing as what you talked about in the episode? It's not like a new idea, but it's like, Hey. I think this is the same chemistry thing happening in a different part of my life. And that's just so cool. So just you get you guys, Your ideas for topics are the best, so don't hesitate to send those to us.

Jam: 27:53

If you have any questions or ideas, reach out to us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at chem for your life. That's chem, f o r, your life to share your thoughts and ideas. If you like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, go to kodashfi.com/ for your life and donate the cost of a cup of coffee. If you're not able to donate, you can still help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app and rating and writing a review on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us to be able to share chemistry with even more people.

Melissa: 28:23

This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Colini and Jame Robinson. References for this episode can be found in our show notes or on our website. Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to s Navarro and a Kewissong who reviewed this episode. Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's Eve.