179 Temperatures 2
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Melissa: [00:00:00] Okay, jam. On today's episode we're going to do temperatures part two.

Jam: nice,

Melissa: going to talk about more ways of measuring temperatures and who decides what temperatures are.

Jam: nice. Okay.

Melissa: Are you ready?

Jam: I'm ready. Let's do it.

Melissa: Okay. Hey, I'm Melissa

Jam: I'm jam

Melissa: I'm a chemist

Jam: and I'm not

Melissa: and welcome to chemistry for your life.

Jam: the podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life,

Melissa: Okay, so when I explained last week's episode to Mason about how thermometers work, the first thing he asked was, what about infrared thermometers? And then you said it was maybe because of your coffee roaster, which has both an infrared and a probe.

Jam: right, right.

Melissa: Okay, so let's talk about those two types of thermometers, because since then I've learned about them.

Jam: And I was going to say, it's funny because my [00:01:00] mother in law was asking. What'd you guys record last week again? And I was talking to her about it and she was like, Is that similar to like the ones they use at doctor's offices now? They're just like a, a button? Which also I think is infrared, right? And I was like, that's so funny.

Jam: She had the first, same first question as Mason sort of, slightly

Melissa: now everybody.

Jam: Yeah. But it's like we interact with those, and those are pretty amazing. And they've become everywhere in the past, you know, few years since COVID. So I'm guessing that's part of why. It's like, oh yeah, but how are those ones that are super fast and don't even need to, like, touch you directly?

Jam: So, makes sense.

Melissa: Okay, so we'll start with the first one, the probe thermometers. I suspect that most probe thermometers are resistance thermometers. Okay? And what that means is this is your, this is your basic chemistry lesson for today, or your like, big chemistry lesson for today. And then we'll just talk about other things and some history.

Melissa: And this is something that I had learned about in, um, in organic chemistry. So not in organic [00:02:00] chemistry in. inorganic chemistry. So that's chemistry of metals, pretty much.

Jam: be nice if, I mean, it'd be nice for those non organic. That was the

Melissa: it really should be. So I learned this in non organic chemistry, but so many are non organic. I think inorganic is specifically, I don't think it's just non carbon containing, but maybe it is, but it's pretty much metals.

Melissa: That's what I

Jam: Oh, okay. Okay.

Melissa: chemistry class, we learned about metals and how they conduct electricity. And just like how metals can expand and contract at different temperatures, they actually can also let electrons flow through them to generate electricity. That's what electricity is, the movement of electrons. They can do that with different abilities at different temperatures.

Jam: Okay.

Melissa: Okay, so my instinct would be, as I'm sure yours is too, if it's hotter, more electricity could flow. Is that your

Jam: Right. Yeah, that would [00:03:00] seem to make sense.

Melissa: Mm hmm.

Jam: Right. And something can be, when we think of conducting, you know, we think of, Like, oh, well things can conduct electricity, but they also conduct heat, like Mm-Hmm. So that's what, that would seem intuitive, but I'm guessing it's not . Dang

Melissa: And I remember this, this day in my inorganic chemistry class, I like remember the room I was sitting in and my professor, I remember all of it so clearly, I don't know why. I think because it was so not intuitive that it just stuck out to me. And the thing that he used an analogy for was, so, you know, everything is moving a little bit, you know, all the time, all types of atoms, even the atoms in the solid metal piece that you're looking at.

Melissa: does have a little bit of energy to move around. Not as much as if it was flowing, but it is moving around some.

Jam: Right,

Melissa: And the thing is, you want electrons to move through that, right? And each atom has electrons around it, and [00:04:00] so if the atom is moving more and the electrons are moving more, it could clog up the pathway for the electricity or the electrons to flow through.

Melissa: And the reference he used was similar to traffic. If the roads are clear, you're going to be able to get where you need to go quickly. But if they're clogged and there's lots of other people trying to go places, it's going to be traffic y and much harder to get where you're going, right?

Jam: right.

Melissa: Similarly, if the electrons are all moving around because they're hotter, they're going to get in the way of the other electrons trying to get through in the electricity conduction situation, and so they're not going to be able to move as quickly, and that is called resistance.

Jam: ah,

Melissa: So resistance goes up as heat goes up. And another reference he uses, if you're driving on a road with a bunch of potholes, like, if you're trying to get somewhere and you're bumping into a bunch of electrons, then it's gonna slow you down, versus if everything is a smooth, clear [00:05:00] path, right? And so, basically, just the Electrons and the atoms within the metal are getting in the way of the electrons trying to be transported, so to speak, through the metal.

Jam: got it.

Melissa: So as the temperature goes up, the resistance goes up too, and it does that in a linear fashion.

Jam: okay.

Melissa: So, you can, depending on what metal you have, measure that resistance and convert that to a temperature.

Jam: Ah, so you just learn by. A lot of testing and stuff,

Melissa: Mm hmm.

Jam: this sort of linear, like if you can kind of start mapping that, figuring out, okay, at this temperature, there's this much resistance and through across the spectrum. So when we take a human temperature and it's at 98, whatever,

Melissa: Mm hmm.

Jam: um, they're really basing that off of when we warm up the metal

Melissa: Mm hmm.

Jam: to the temperature of that person's [00:06:00] body, how much resistance is there once that happens.

Jam: And then they can, oh, that's crazy.

Melissa: So, if you think about it on the molecular level, every atom has some electrons surrounding it, you know? So, if you have, say, a block of metal, and you're trying to conduct electricity

Jam: Mm hmm. Mm

Melissa: if you zoom into what's happening, you have just a sea of electrons. Surrounding atoms every which way.

Melissa: So there's atoms, you know, if you were in the middle of that block, there'd be atoms in front of you, behind you, to the side above you in diagonal, you know, it's just like a grid of electrons. You can think of it, maybe sort of, I've been playing a lot of Minecraft. So that's the thing I think, you know, like the lattice work of Minecraft, if you're, you have bamboo lattice things, or just like.

Melissa: Any, um, Lattice that they were building to go up on a building. What are those called? Like,

Jam: Like a trellis?

Melissa: no, the things that you're trying to go up on the building and work. We've had this exact conversation.

Jam: We have?

Melissa: Yes. About metals. When I was like, [00:07:00] get down to the molecular level and imagine it looks like this.

Jam: You try to climb the side of a building?

Melissa: Like, yeah, if you're trying to work on it and you have that thing that's, um,

Jam: Like a fire escape?

Melissa: no, if you're like building the building.

Jam: Oh, a scaffold.

Melissa: Scaffold. That's the word. I can never remember the word scaffold.

Jam: Ha ha

Melissa: So I think of it sort of like a scaffold where you just have like. A bunch of repeating units, in the same way scaffolding is repeating, and you can have it in every single direction, up and down and all around, and that's the metal, and then filling it, or the atom, the center of the atom, and then filling up the space around each center of atom is electron.

Melissa: So if you're trying to weave through, the more sucked into the atom, the closer they are to the atom, the less they're going to be in the in between spaces, you know? They're not going to be moving, they're not going to be vibrating, they're not going to be pushing. The electron that's trying to be conducted through out of the way

Jam: Right. Right,

Melissa: and that's why it happens You know at the molecular level does that make[00:08:00]

Jam: Yes, it does make sense.

Melissa: And yeah, so exactly what you described is basically those thermometers run on electricity They have a battery or some other thing like that. And if there is more resistance, that means the temperature is hotter

Jam: Mm hmm.

Melissa: Less resistance and the temperature is colder. So they essentially can use that to convert to some standardized temperature that they know Oh, this resistance goes to this temperature.

Melissa: Isn't that amazing?

Jam: is amazing. Also, is there something about like, let's say you have some, you know, cold ish metal,

Melissa: Mm hmm. A

Jam: resistance, does a lot of things being conducted through it inherently also warm it up anyway, increase the resistance?

Melissa: lot of things being conducted through it. Oh, I see. You're asking does the electricity impact The

Jam: does, yeah,

Melissa: Yes. So actually, on one of the websites [00:09:00] I was on, uh, the, uh, like, Science Direct website, one of the papers it was, had a little, like, summary from, it said that, that you, you kind of have to account for the fact that the energy flowing through itself will heat up the metal

Jam: right,

Melissa: See, I, but I think you can account for that and give really accurate temperatures.

Jam: right, right, yeah, that makes sense. Dang, that's so crazy,

Melissa: And I think they're, because they are usually very accurate, so I think they do usually account for that. They're often used in food, and so I assume that my meat thermometer at home and your coffee probe thermometer, both of those I think are probably resistance thermometers.

Jam: gotta be, yeah, that makes total sense.

Melissa: So now, now you know.

Jam: Interesting.

Melissa: You look like you were working on a joke or, or were you just processing

Jam: No, it's just processing. I think, like, it's weird because there's some, the fact that this works so backward in so many ways. Like,

Melissa: the resistance thing?

Jam: all of [00:10:00] electricity is completely not intuitive in any way at all. Like, anything we've ever gotten into that, The only thing that, I guess, batteries ended up kind of making sense once we got into it, but it still is not the way you assume.

Melissa: No.

Jam: And it's like weird how, it seems like that's just the truth about all things electrical though. It's like, sorry, you're not going to get it right the first way you guess it. And it actually may be the opposite of what you think it would be. Like, I don't get,

Melissa: But if you get to the molecular level, it does kind of make sense. Everything else can move faster when it's hotter because it has more energy. But that's what's happening. It is moving more because it's hotter, and so it has more energy. It's blocking. It has more energy to basically interfere, you know?

Melissa: Maybe we should think of it like a quarterback or some kind of sports analogy, but I don't know sports analogies well enough. Basically you want the other team to be lethargic so you can score a goal, right?

Jam: yes,

Melissa: But if the other team is really energetic, they're not going to let you get by as easily. There we go, we got

Jam: that makes total sense. And you're right. It's like as soon as you get to that molecular level [00:11:00] You can make it make sense, but it still is like from the zoomed out sort of like, you know, pedestrian user, um, like point of view, it is not that way at

Melissa: That's not what you'd assume. Yeah. so that is the probe thermometer. Then the IR thermometer, I kind of feel like this one's a little bit less fun because I don't exactly know how the sensors work, but essentially all of us, well, I'll start here with the electromagnetic spectrum. We've talked about this many times.

Melissa: Um, for those of you that this is your first episode, we've talked about this. Um, I don't, I don't even remember probably on anyone where we talk about light.

Jam: Yeah. The first one we ever talked about this may have been, did we get into it with all the way back with the antioxidants because of the colors of stuff?

Melissa: Maybe. Yeah.

Jam: I feel like that could have been one of the first times we touched on it, but then like Mirage stuff, we got into it a little bit then. Um, we've had a bunch, but those are [00:12:00] like some of the earliest I can remember.

Melissa: So this is your first episode and you don't have a background in chemistry. You can Google the electromagnetic spectrum, but essentially it's just like. All of the types of energy that are waves of energy that are given off, there's sort of a spectrum of the smallest, most frequent waves to the largest, least often waves.

Melissa: You can think of like on one side, it's like really fast up and down waves. And then on the other side, it's like big back and forth, like lazy waves. Okay. So there's all different types, like microwave. That might've been the first one we talked about was on microwave. Yeah. Yeah.

Jam: Oh yeah, that's, yeah, that's definitely the earliest because we didn't get into any of the others parts of the spectrum, but Yeah.

Melissa: So there's visible light is in waves and ultraviolet light and infrared light and microwaves and radio waves. All these types of energy are, um, sort of characterized, categorized, put in order on the electromagnetic spectrum. And so one of those is infrared energy. And we [00:13:00] can't see infrared energy.

Melissa: But we can feel it as heat.

Jam: Right.

Melissa: So, um, essentially what the, oh, I lost my place. Cause I was so excited about talking about the, the probe thermometers. So essentially what, um, happens is our body is always giving off some sort of heat, some sort of infrared energy that. You can direct towards a sensor and that sensor can convert it into a temperature.

Melissa: So just imagine like there's a sensor that can detect it in the same way that if you have like thermal cameras or thermal imaging, it's the same kind of thing, but there's usually a lens sensor that reads the light, uh, not the light, reads the energy, the infrared energy in a certain area and will direct it at that sensor and that sensor will read it.

Melissa: Now. If you are directly in contact with a surface, with your thermometer, you [00:14:00] know, there's the ones that you put on the surface, then it's taking in only that area's infrared energy,

Jam: Okay.

Melissa: and it directs it to a sensor within a certain type of, you know, like bounces around an area and directs it to a sensor.

Melissa: If you're doing one of the faraway ones, the non contact ones, That little light that points out, it's not doing anything, except telling you where you're reading.

Jam: Right. Okay.

Melissa: But they can be a little less accurate because they're taking the average of everything that they see, and so you have to program them to crop the image to only that certain area.

Melissa: And that's how they can take the, the surface temperature of just what's right there. But really it being in contact is much better. In terms of accuracy.

Jam: So, it's sensing an, just, amount of [00:15:00] infrared.

Melissa: Mm hmm.

Jam: Because obviously the where is on the spectrum is about it's like wavelength, it's frequency, that stuff. But this would be trying to pick up on how much is there?

Melissa: I think so. The intensity of them.

Jam: how much is coming off?

Melissa: Yeah. Not that there's IR, but, sorry, IR is short for infrared. Not that there, that it's there. They don't care what kind it is, they're, I think they're looking at how much is coming off. And so they just have a sensor that detects that and converts it.

Jam: Also, I knew the IR thing because that's how Mason and I refer to which temperatures. Like, oh, is that the IR? Oh, okay.

Melissa: oh yeah, because you're so smart. Good job.

Jam: Yeah. And because the forums of people who use our same roaster, they use that

Melissa: Oh.

Jam: we just stole that from them.

Melissa: funny. So, yeah, I mean, that's kind of, I feel like that's kind of not the most fun answer and there wasn't a lot of information that I could find on how does an IR sensor convert it to a temperature. So, feel like that's a short answer that kind of makes sense, but it's not as fun as the, [00:16:00] I think, as the other ones.

Jam: It's weird though, because I guess like in, and we haven't talked much about like photography and stuff, you know, but like with a photographic lens with like a sensor, you can have that be sensitive to, you know, an analog camera is literally like chemicals that are sensitive to it, you know, but

Melissa: Mm hmm.

Jam: a digital one is, you know, like pixels that are sensitive to light.

Jam: But there's ones that can be sensitive to infrared light instead of. And that's how our baby monitors work. The ones we have in our house. So like, I can look at night and see. So I guess, even though it's still a mystery. There's something to like, Oh, something can tell if there's infrared,

Melissa: Yeah.

Jam: like that's okay.

Jam: That at least gets me part of the way there. Like I, I believe that's possible because I know it because I use it all the time. So just being able to tell like how much is there, you know, is, is cool out. That makes me wonder, like, could it, could like an infrared camera, for instance, also translate the [00:17:00] information?

Jam: Like what's the temperature in

Melissa: found a paper about that. It was like, hey, you know, I mean, the setup, you have to justify your research, right? So the setup for it that I read, I didn't read the whole thing. So like this, I'm going to tell me how this works. But the setup was, you know, heat exhaustion is really dangerous. And so you have to be aware if people are becoming overheated.

Melissa: So can we use a camera? To track body temperature. An

Jam: Uh huh.

Melissa: camera to track body

Jam: Yeah. Wow.

Melissa: I know! I don't remember the conclusions. I don't think I read past the introduction.

Jam: You know something cool about infrared dish while we're on the topic of it. One thing I've noticed as the, the little, little scientist in my head, when I'm looking at our baby monitors, one of them is like, um, outside of, of like, it kind of is angled toward my older son's bed. I can see more of the room in there

Melissa: hmm.

Jam: and what's really cool that I remember noticing from the first time we started using these was that the rug, the little area rug we have in his room looks [00:18:00] like it's all one color because, but it's actually not.

Jam: But it's measuring infrared light. And so it's really all the same material.

Melissa: Yeah.

Jam: And the color of that material changing, but clearly based on that sensor, whatever, everything that's on there is at least giving off the same infrared. So even though the color is different, so things just look different. So certain designs are just gone.

Melissa: Yeah.

Jam: It's like, Oh, it makes sense because this only exists in the spectrum of visible light. That's where the changes are. But there's no change in material, which might also potentially, but not in every case, change the, like, infrared,

Melissa: Yeah,

Jam: then it would just look the same.

Melissa: that just unlocked something in my brain. So that's true. And I remember us talking about what even color

Jam: Yeah, yeah,

Melissa: and how in the dark, nothing has color because there's no light. We, we watched an episode of Rhett and Link, and I don't remember why, maybe because it was Halloween. They played the international darts game in the dark.

Jam: Uh huh. [00:19:00] Okay.

Melissa: And I was like, but I can see the design on Rhett's shirt. And I feel like, If this is really, because we could see things with infrared. So like if this, if this is really an infrared camera, we shouldn't be able to see that because it's, you can't see designs on things. And just when you said that, I was like, I bet it was a different material.

Melissa: And that material was taking in and giving off heat at a different rate than the rest of his shirt.

Jam: like a screen printed or like whatever, like, like your Pepsi sweatshirt,

Melissa: I'm wearing a Pepsi sweatshirt because my family long worked for Pepsi. So I have this cute

Jam: but you can actually feel the difference,

Melissa: can feel the difference, yeah. And when the lights came on, Link had a shirt that did have a pattern, but you couldn't see it. And then I was like, I'm wrong, but why was that happening?

Melissa: And it did not occur to me until just now that it probably had a different material on the design. It didn't really look like that.

Jam: Yeah, because there's so many different ways to, to like print something on there. Like some designs feel very much a part [00:20:00] of the like fabric, right? And others feel like on top of it or whatever. Anyways, I remember being fascinated by that and being like, Whoa, on the infrared camera thing. So yeah,

Melissa: That's fun. These are fun little, yeah, side quests.

Jam: Yes. Fun little discoveries.

Melissa: Yeah, I really like that. I think that is really fun and I think that what looking at things on infrared cameras are so interesting. And I also think what those are doing is essentially measuring the different infrared and converting it to like, maybe a pixel color, I guess, so that it looks like something, you know,

Jam: And it's just, I feel like it's basically like a grayscale. So I guess, to be honest, on a. Spectrum of like,

Melissa: Yeah.

Jam: just zero to one or something, I don't know, like. None to some or whatever.

Melissa: I don't know. Hard to say how those work. Maybe we should do a, how do night vision cameras convert infrared into pictures.

Jam: think one of the ones that's been [00:21:00] like bouncing around in the queue has just been photography and all that stuff. I feel like I asked specifically about like instant film and stuff like

Melissa: So I've looked into that and, you know, sometimes I start looking into something and I'm like, this is hard and I'm going to need more time, you

Jam: or it's like one of the things where it's like, okay, are you ready for a series on this or not? You know,

Melissa: Yeah. And some of it is, do I have time for this? I've been wanting to do nitrogen and how nitrogen fixing matters. And essentially there's nitrogen in our air all the time, but we need nitrogen that's usable for plants for a while. But I'm like, oh, I need to make sure I dedicate a good amount of time and just don't always have time.

Melissa: So. You know, one of the problems with having multiple jobs.

Jam: Yeah being a little independent podcast like ours.

Melissa: Anyway, so that is that's how those two thermometers work. I was really excited about the probe thermometers because it reminded me of that lesson that I learned a long time ago. And I was like, Yeah, I knew that. So that was fun.

Jam: That's cool.

Melissa: So now let's talk [00:22:00] about what even temperatures are. Well, how long have we been going?

Melissa: You think we have time for this? Should we extend it to a part three?

Jam: I've been going for 22 minutes.

Melissa: That seems like a whole episode.

Jam: Yeah, maybe so.

Melissa: Maybe I'm just going to leave you all hanging for one more. more week. Part three on the history. It'd be kind of like a shorty, but a goody.

Jam: I like that.

Melissa: Okay, great. Well, I guess we can just wrap it up here. Do you want to talk about something that made you happy this week?

Jam: I would love to, let me find it.

Melissa: In your brain.

Jam: Hmm, do you already have one?

Melissa: No, this caught me off guard. I was thinking we have special bonus episodes for our patrons where we talk about not chemistry things in mostly our lives. And so I was thinking about those things so hard that I forgot to think about something for this.

Jam: Oh, I've got one.

Melissa: Okay, give it to me.

Jam: Okay, so, last week we did our Um, coffee hour with [00:23:00] our hbonders, our patrons, which by the way, is very fun. So if you've ever thought about joining our Patreon and you specifically thought about joining at the, our hbonder tier, which is our highest tier, you get to do a monthly coffee hour on, online, on zoom with Melissa and I and our other hbonder patrons.

Jam: We hang out, we talk, we catch up. We. Talk about some chemistry some non chemistry all that kind of stuff super fun But we hadn't done that in a while Especially the last couple times we hadn't been together in the same place when we did it you and I but this time we have To do that and then Melissa and I and Mason Melissa's husband and then my wife and we all got to hang out Eat dinner and watch an episode of rings of power, which I have been dying

Melissa: We've literally been watching it for a year

Jam: Mm hmm.

Melissa: it's truly been one whole year and it's only eight episodes that's how much we hang out

Jam: Well, we were like, yeah, I think I might be 10 is it 8

Melissa: [00:24:00] No, I don't remember. I don't.

Jam: but we had I Did have that thought whenever we decided to be like and everyone's probably experienced this where you decide You're gonna watch a show with a person or some people and you sort of make that pact which is like, okay That means we're only watching this when we're together When you do that, you do, um, commit yourself to something.

Jam: And sometimes that means taking a show m b lower than you want to, but every episode is a little victory. Every time, we can get all four of us in the same place at the same time,

Melissa: we're long enough

Jam: for long enough. It's this great so feel close.

Melissa: well, and then We picked a day next month to be like, okay, we're gonna watch two we're gonna finish the episode We're so the series were so close and we're like I scheduled nothing the next day But I'm taking a like a Christian history class and we have [00:25:00] to make up a day and he's scheduled to make up for the next Day,

Jam: Mm hmm.

Melissa: and Mason were like, no, we're gonna power through as long as it takes We'll stay up late and get up early the next morning Because we promised

Jam: Yes

Melissa: we're gonna stay up late.

Melissa: I'm not gonna complain.

Jam: Yeah, so that'll be fun. But it was it was a lot of fun to get to that after a long time I've not getting to I think the last episode we had watched was

Melissa: while, probably in the summer.

Jam: yeah, probably so

Melissa: I had a boyfriend in college who watched a show that we were supposed to watch together without me. And you know, that was like one of the first cracks of the relationship. We're like, oh, you're really not a good person. Like, how could you do this to me? That's so, that's such a deep betrayal.

Jam: was weird cuz I was like, it's like the shows don't really matter But it's like what does this mean though? It's

Melissa: Yeah. Why would you do that?

Jam: you were willing to

Melissa: And lie.

Jam: Yeah, you said you'd do this, but then you didn't. It'd be one thing if he was like, if he was like, Hey, listen, you're, you've been really busy. [00:26:00] I have some free time and I really want to watch this show.

Jam: Could I continue without you? Or could I just get a couple ahead of you? But to not do that at all?

Melissa: Yeah. And then I probably would've been like, yeah, as long as you rewatch it with me,

Jam: Yes. Yep.

Melissa: So it was really, it was dark. I did. Then I had a roommate later in college who would watch stuff without me, but she'd always watch it back and she never lied. And I'm like, that's all I need.

Jam: That's the way to do it.

Melissa: Okay.

Jam: just never, yeah, never commit something you can't stick to. Someone's like, Hey, let's just watch this together. But be like, I'll watch it with you, but I'm not going to commit to only watch it with you. Just don't commit if you can't. You know,

Melissa: Well, we've committed and it's been sad mostly for Jam and probably Mason a little

Jam: and I really, I mean, I don't have a lot of time, but after the kids are asleep, that kind of thing on nights and working, I do have time to myself where I could have many, many times, watch this show multiple times the entire first season, multiple times in a row, multiple times. And I have not done it, so sometimes [00:27:00] you're like me and despite the fact that you really want to, you have self control because you know it'll be better and

Melissa: And it is. It is fun together.

Jam: friends.

Jam: It's more fun.

Melissa: Okay, I thought of mine while we were talking, because of something we talked about with our patrons, also I mentioned today, is, I don't think I talked about this last week, is, um, so you know, for Thanksgiving, um, we didn't really do much, we, I worked and, you know, then we went on a trip with my family later, but that day, his siblings were off, Mason's siblings were off

Jam: Mm hmm.

Melissa: And we all ended up starting a Minecraft world together. And it was a fun way to spend time together, like, on a holiday that you wouldn't normally get to see them, you know? That was really fun, but it's continued and we've continued to play minecraft together And so we like all can get on the same world and we're on discord.

Melissa: So we're like on discord chatting We it's almost like a like a four way [00:28:00] phone call with me and him and his sister and his brother And so we can chat about life or whatever and then just like oops I hit the mic and then just like also play our little Minecraft games and I don't really care about video games.

Melissa: Like if I'm by myself, I usually don't play them, but playing them with other people is fun because it's like a, it's just like playing any other game together. And so that's been really fun and I've really enjoyed it. And it's been a way to keep in touch with his siblings more than we normally get to because they're pretty far away.

Melissa: And it's just, it's just been making me really happy though. That's been a fun thing that I've enjoyed lately.

Jam: That's cool. I like that. I've never played Minecraft, but the idea of doing that with family like that seems super fun, so I get it.

Melissa: It's basically just, um, getting on a phone call with everybody and Then just doing your own thing, but in a different world not in our world

Jam: Yeah, and the fact that you can, if you want to, can like, go watch whatever the other person is doing and like, see each other [00:29:00] makes it feel like more than just a phone call. It's like, oh, I can talk and also I can go see the digital representation of you and the thing you're building or whatever.

Jam: Or you could work together, obviously, which is cool.

Melissa: Mason taught me how to shoot a bow at some of the bad guys in there And I was like, I've only ever used swords and I try not to interact with the bad guys I'm just like in it for the crafts, you know, and so yeah, it's like with something we did together Virtually or like his brother would be like, oh, we're all gonna go on adventures here I got you all armor, you know, and he like outfits us all, you know, so Yeah, it's just fun.

Melissa: It's like a way to hang out virtually in real life, which that is how I started playing video games in the first place is Mason and I during COVID were quarantined apart from each other because we weren't married yet. And he'd be like, let's go on a Stardew Valley date. And so he like walked me through how to get it on my computer and everything.

Melissa: And then we would meet virtually and go on adventures in our virtual world, you

Jam: This, this makes me think that like, there could be a future [00:30:00] where I could get my brothers into something like this. But like, I think it'd be hard, like, me and my younger brother having kids makes it hard, but maybe when the kids are older, a little bit. But my older brother, his thing is just the tech stuff.

Jam: I'd have to get him like, alright, here's what you download, here's how you do it. But I think, you know, he is like you in that this is the only kind of game he would ever get into. And um, If he got into anything at all, period. Which he may still not want to, but like, I could be like, listen, you can make your own stuff, it's kinda cute, and it's like, intentionally old school graphics kinda thing, um, maybe I'll try that someday.

Melissa: Yeah, and it could be even fun for kids when they get older. It's like, oh, you and your cousins are gonna hop on,

Jam: Oh yeah, that's a

Melissa: you know?

Jam: a great, great

Melissa: Or you and your brother could do it after the kids go to bed. Like

Jam: Just, you know, not for the kids, for me.

Melissa: We did try to have my nephew play and it's hard. It's hard for the dexterity of a [00:31:00] little kid because you have to, like, move forward and backwards with one controller and move around the world with the other. So it's kind of hard, but But I think that could be a fun thing for brothers to play, you know, after kids go to bed.

Melissa: Instead of watching, instead of going behind our backs and watching Lord of the Rings. You can just go hang out with your brother on discord and play in minecraft world I think that'd be fun. And you just what you have to do is for your other brother who's not tech savvy Just download it for him when he's in town be like here.

Melissa: I'm gonna put no I'm gonna just I'm gonna buy it and I'm just gonna put it on your computer

Jam: Yeah. He also doesn't even have a computer right now. He's one of those people.

Melissa: he have a PlayStation?

Jam: Oh no, none of us have any playstations or anything. We

Melissa: he have a does he have anything that he could play a game on

Jam: he has a phone.

Melissa: I don't know

Jam: Yeah he, he was, he, something's wrong with his computer and he hasn't gotten it worked on. I don't, I don't think it's going to work. But yeah, there's a lot of hurdles there, but he's actually tech savvier than I'm making him seem. It's just that he's like, [00:32:00] he is with like the stuff you need to know how to do well for work.

Jam: He's great at that. So.

Melissa: doesn't want to do anything

Jam: All the, uh, you know, Microsoft suite, and spike that, he's got that down, he can figure out how to get a printer to work, and he's like, tech savvy in all the things you need to know how to do in an office, and people ask him to do, but anything outside of that, at all, yeah,

Melissa: He just chooses not to engage.

Jam: basically, so his, his knowledge has not continued to grow, you know, so nothing recreational, almost at all, and, yeah, so,

Melissa: Well, you gotta, gotta get him on the, on some kind of virtual world so you and your brothers can hang out. It's pretty fun.

Jam: yeah, I'll have to figure that out,

Melissa: All right, well, um, that was fun. Thanks for letting me talk about Minecraft and Thanks for thanks for your questions about thermometers This is ended up turning into a little series a little short short bites series Just a little bit after a little bit and then we'll talk about the history next week There won't be a whole science lesson, but more just like how did this end up happening?

Jam: [00:33:00] nice.

Melissa: Great.

Jam: Well, thank you for teaching us. Thank you for being willing to take this into multiple parts and explain something It seems simple, but it's clearly not And it's been fascinating. I love it And if you have a question or an idea or a thought or whatever or follow up or a correction or something You can reach out to us on our website at chem4yourlife.

Jam: com That's chem4yourlife. com to share your thoughts and ideas If you'd like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it you can go to patreon. com slash chem For your life to join our super cool Kim Unity of patrons with multiple tiers, different, different perks, rewards, ways to interact with us, that kind of thing.

Jam: We'd love for you to join, but if you can't, you can still help us by subscribing affiliate podcast app rating and writing review on Apple Podcasts, and also by subscribing on YouTube to our YouTube channel. Those things help us to share chemistry with even more people.

Melissa: This episode was made possible. Nope This episode of chemistry for your life was created by Melissa Kalini and Jam Robinson and Jam Robinson is our [00:34:00] producer This episode was made possible by our financial supporters over on Patreon, and it means so much to us, and it's so fun to get to know you, but it means so much to us that you want to help make chemistry accessible for even more people and to help contribute to the cost of this show.

Melissa: Those supporters are Avishai B, Bree M, Brian K, Chris and Claire S, Chelsea B, Derek L, Elizabeth P, Emerson W, Hunter R, Jacob T, Christina G, Katrina H, Latila S, Lynn S, Melissa P, Nicole C, Rachel R, Sarah M, Stephen B, Shadow, Suzanne P, Timothy P, and Venus R. Thank you again for everything that you do to make Chemistry for Your Life happen.

Melissa: And an extra special thanks to Bri, who often creates illustrations to go along with episodes of Chemistry for Your Life, and you can see that over on our YouTube channel. You can support Bri by following her and supporting her at intropic. artstation. com and MacalesterBri on Twitter, and both of those are linked in our show notes.[00:35:00]

Jam: You've started to learn more about today's chemistry lesson. You can look at the references for this episode. In our show notes or in the description of the video on youtube

Melissa: Yay chemistry! Yay chemistry! Thanks y'all!