Melissa: 00:09

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: 00:14

The podcast helped you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.

Melissa: 00:19

Yay. I'm so excited. I am recovering from a cold a little bit. So if I sound a little nasally, That's why. Just for the record.

Jam: 00:27

Not your fault. You're forgiven.

Melissa: 00:28

And if I'm a little sniffly. Okay. So I'm really excited for this episode. I guess I always am excited about the sounds, but we got this question from s d Pete on Instagram.

Jam: 00:41

Okay.

Melissa: 00:42

And it's really such a good question. And then after they asked that I was laying in bed and noticed a light blinking in my bedroom, and I was like, is that our smoke detector? And and then it was really in my mind. Ah. So SDP asked How smoke detectors work.

Jam: 01:02

Okay. And I

Melissa: 01:02

think I wanna expand this into a multipart series because there's 2 different types of smoke detectors, and there's also those sprinklers.

Jam: 01:09

Oh, right. Right.

Melissa: 01:10

Know that go off?

Jam: 01:11

Yeah.

Melissa: 01:11

And guess what? They all work by chemistry.

Jam: 01:14

Oh, interesting. Are you sure?

Melissa: 01:16

I'm positive.

Jam: 01:16

Okay.

Melissa: 01:17

They all work by chemistry.

Jam: 01:18

Right.

Melissa: 01:19

Okay. So there's 2 kinds of smoke detectors. So let's talk about that.

Jam: 01:24

Okay.

Melissa: 01:25

We're gonna talk about 1 today and leave the next one for the next part. So the one we're gonna leave, it basically uses a light to sense particles. Fairly straightforward. We can talk about it in the next episode.

Jam: 01:37

Okay.

Melissa: 01:38

The other kind is called an ionizing smoke detector. So it's a little bit more complicated, and that's where we're gonna zoom in today.

Jam: 01:46

And is the ionizing one more of what most would have in our homes, or does it really vary a lot?

Melissa: 01:52

I so I don't know Which one there's more of, but I do know that, I had to use a lot of government resources for this. There wasn't a lot of just chemistry resources on How smoke detectors work? Uh-huh. But the one of the government websites that I used recommended having both kinds because they're good for different types of fires. And there are some that incorporate both, like, in in their little, in one.

Melissa: 02:19

Okay. Yeah. So, like, they have a it's like a dual sensor or something. That's both technologies are used

Jam: 02:25

in there.

Melissa: 02:26

So Maybe that's the most common, but they do recommend using both kinds.

Jam: 02:30

Okay.

Melissa: 02:31

And did make me wonder what I have in my apartment because It's not a house, so I didn't buy them.

Jam: 02:35

Right. Right.

Melissa: 02:37

Do you know what you have in your house?

Jam: 02:38

It's funny that you asked this because literally well, I don't know what kind.

Melissa: 02:42

I Katell, you were dying to say something.

Jam: 02:44

Well, it's just funny. This happens sometimes where, like, the topic that we pick, not every time, probably we pick, has something, like, related to something you said in my life. It was maybe about 2 weeks ago. I was cooking, and I started thinking, Where's the nearest smoke detector in here? I looked right in my kitchen, and there wasn't one.

Jam: 03:03

I thought, that's not great.

Melissa: 03:04

But you know what? That's a little weird.

Jam: 03:06

That's weird. But you know what? In other houses, have had 1 right near my kitchen. Sometimes it's actually been too sensitive.

Melissa: 03:11

That's what happens in ours. It goes off all the time.

Jam: 03:13

Yeah. Just a little bit of smoke. So I was like, maybe it's better. So I thought, oh, you know what? Maybe I think it's right over our dining table.

Jam: 03:18

Somewhere around there. Mhmm. And I stepped back and looked, and there was one there.

Melissa: 03:22

Oh, no. And I

Jam: 03:23

looked at okay. Well, we have a fireplace in the living room. Maybe I'll go step Step a few steps further back. Maybe you have 1 in my living room. There's not 1 in my living room.

Melissa: 03:30

Oh, no. In that whole area?

Jam: 03:32

In the whole area Where the fireplace and the stove and the oven are, there's not one.

Melissa: 03:37

How is that up to code? Isn't someone checking something? I mean,

Jam: 03:40

it's probably not. And that's a Weird thing about especially in states like Texas where older homes get sort of grandfathered in on some stuff. I mean, I'm sure everyone inspector probably did maybe tell us Something like that. And I'm sure that there is a code to it, but I'm not sure if they can force you or or whatever. But if you're building a new house, they can force you where to put them.

Jam: 04:01

The nearest moat sector in our house is all the way down our hall right near our bedrooms, which obviously

Melissa: 04:07

That's good. You're sleeping. Bing?

Jam: 04:09

Yeah. Good good place for them, but not a good place for your main one.

Melissa: 04:13

Right.

Jam: 04:14

And the smoke's gonna get way down there, right by our doors.

Melissa: 04:18

And then

Jam: 04:19

And then we'll be made aware of it.

Melissa: 04:21

It'd be better if we were made aware of it sooner.

Jam: 04:23

Yes. So I'm interested in this topic. Okay. And I'm interested because I will probably Soon be in the market Right. For some new smoke detectors.

Melissa: 04:32

Probably should purchase some. Yeah. I think so. Okay. So we're gonna talk about the ionizing smoke detector, but now I want you to just, like, pause that, hang it up on a hook Okay.

Melissa: 04:43

And think instead about radioactivity. And there's a reason. We'll come back to.

Jam: 04:48

Radioactivity. Okay.

Melissa: 04:49

Yeah. So what do you know about radioactivity?

Jam: 04:52

I what I know is from the show, Chernobyl.

Melissa: 04:56

Oh, I didn't

Jam: 04:57

watch that show. Oh.

Melissa: 04:58

I thought it was gonna make me too sad.

Jam: 05:00

It It's really good.

Melissa: 05:01

It is sad, though, but it's really good. I feel like

Jam: 05:06

my understanding is that there's a lot of instability With some element I've, like, I've heard the term, like, uranium and a few other, like isn't it, like, specific isotopes of Atoms that they use of a substance that makes it good for those conditions?

Melissa: 05:24

There's certain ones that are naturally radioactive.

Jam: 05:27

Okay. Yeah. K. And that there are, like, particles, like, Flying in different directions.

Melissa: 05:37

It's all

Jam: 05:37

I got.

Melissa: 05:37

Okay. Yeah. That's true.

Jam: 05:39

There's a sentence in that show where the guy basically says, there are atoms of this of this element, like, basically firing all directions like bullets, frying making tiny holes

Melissa: 05:50

Mhmm.

Jam: 05:50

In everything in this radius. And it's like he's trying to convince him it's a serious deal, and it works for me. It worked for me. I was very convinced that it was serious, but that's kinda it. I just know this bad.

Jam: 06:01

I know you can measure it with the Geiger counter stuff or whatever.

Melissa: 06:04

That's actually not a bad starting point.

Jam: 06:06

Okay.

Melissa: 06:07

I think the idea of things flying around, like, Sort of all atoms all the time were shooting around in all directions.

Jam: 06:13

Right. Right.

Melissa: 06:14

So that, I'm like, but Right. And I don't know what context he's talking about it in, but it's The instability and things kind of shooting out

Jam: 06:23

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 06:23

Is not a terrible mental picture to have.

Jam: 06:26

Okay.

Melissa: 06:27

So when I talk about radioactivity and chemistry, I think about an atom that's unstable, like you said, and it it usually is breaking down or releasing seeing energy in some way to become more stable.

Jam: 06:40

Okay.

Melissa: 06:41

And it actually goes really well with last week's episode. You know, we reviewed Or 2 weeks ago, I guess, we reviewed the different parts of the atom, how there's the, there's a center of the atom that has protons and neutrons Uh-huh. And then there's the electrons on the outside. So that comes into play because when atoms break down, they are in radioactive decay. Oftentimes, they're literally losing parts of selves.

Melissa: 07:05

And sometimes their identities change. If they lose those protons, their identities can change.

Jam: 07:12

Right. Right.

Melissa: 07:13

So that's kind of a big deal. Yeah. Okay. So that's in radioactive decay. They The way I phrased it here is they essentially lose parts of themselves and they can change identity.

Melissa: 07:27

And it just as kind of a broad overview, They can lose energy, neutrons, protons, electrons, and they, sometimes as a result, become a different atom.

Jam: 07:37

K.

Melissa: 07:38

So they can lose anything. They can give anything kind of. Oh, wow. I know. And there's lots of different types of radioactivity or radioactive decay, but they're Typically becoming a more stable atom with each breaking down or emission of energy.

Jam: 07:54

Okay. That makes sense. They want to be stable If they can.

Melissa: 07:58

Yeah. They're they're trying it's sort of like an a desperate attempt to be stable. And there are some

Jam: 08:03

I mean, I identify with that

Melissa: 08:04

Yeah. So much. And there are some elements that, like, they they start out really unstable, and they'll break down into Something else that's more stable, and then it breaks down further. You know? So one of the things we're talking about today is actually a byproduct of another thing breaking down.

Jam: 08:23

Okay. So

Melissa: 08:24

and it will break down into something else that's also radioactive. You know? So it can keep breaking down.

Jam: 08:30

Okay.

Melissa: 08:31

So there's different kinds of radiation, different things that are emitted. But today, I want us to focus on 2 things which relate to today's topic. So those are alpha emissions and gamma emissions. Okay. Did you hear about either of those in the Chernobyl?

Jam: 08:46

I think I heard about gamma. Mhmm. I think that's

Melissa: 08:49

the most common one.

Jam: 08:50

And gamma also finds its way in pop culture in other ways like, you know, Bruce Banner, Hulk. Gamma radiation is how his whole origin story comes about.

Melissa: 09:00

Oh, I did not know that. Yeah.

Jam: 09:02

So I bet a lot of our listeners that might be one of the ways they've heard of gamma is, like, superhero stuff. It's

Melissa: 09:08

like the

Jam: 09:09

way of, like, grabbing some words from science and throwing them into a superhero or destroy. That one, I guess, has been used.

Melissa: 09:15

You that doesn't bother me, Achan, when it's like, oh, this is so unrelated to science. They just took these fun words. Uh-huh.

Jam: 09:21

But you

Melissa: 09:21

know what really bothers me is when they're pretending to be scientific, and then they do something Like, touch their cell phone with their gloves. It's like a deep seated, like, oh, no. Don't touch that with your gloves. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa: 09:35

So that kind of like, oh, you're just making this science fiction. You're acknowledging that it's fiction. That's fine.

Jam: 09:41

Yeah.

Melissa: 09:41

But when they're doing scientific things and they touch their phone with their gloves, I will I'm like, I don't know if I can watch this.

Jam: 09:48

Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa: 09:50

Okay. So Alpha decay, we'll talk about that first, is what happens when an atom loses so called alpha particles.

Jam: 09:58

Okay.

Melissa: 09:59

So alpha particles Have 2 protons and 2 neutrons. Do you know what else has 2 protons on the periodic table?

Jam: 10:06

Oxygen?

Melissa: 10:08

No. Dang. I mean, it has 2 plus 4 more, I think.

Jam: 10:12

Oh, man. Okay. Wait. Hydrogen is 1. Uh-huh.

Jam: 10:17

And then what can I think of what's next? Is it helium?

Melissa: 10:19

Yeah. It's helium. Nice. Nice. So, yes, helium has 2.

Melissa: 10:24

And so, essentially, what alpha particles They are. Is there the same size as a helium atom that's lost its electrons? That's they are helium 2 plus, basically. Okay.

Jam: 10:35

Okay.

Melissa: 10:35

Because if you lose your electrons, you're positive. Right. I've told that joke that my cousin told me a lot where the atom runs into a bar and says, I think my electrons, and the bartender says, are you positive? Right? So, it's essentially a positive 2 plus or positive helium atom.

Jam: 10:53

Okay.

Melissa: 10:54

But so it's just, like, kind of big compared to some other types of radiation because it's essentially the same size as an atom.

Jam: 11:00

Okay.

Melissa: 11:00

And so because of that kinda move slow, and it's not really as dangerous as my understanding because it's big, moves slow, it can be easily stopped.

Jam: 11:10

Okay.

Melissa: 11:11

Other types of radiation are harder to stop.

Jam: 11:13

Okay.

Melissa: 11:15

Okay. And then there's also gamma particles, which Or not gamma particles, I guess. I should walk that back. There's also gamma radiation.

Jam: 11:23

Okay.

Melissa: 11:24

And gamma radiation is Actually, similar to what we've talked about before when we've talked about excited electrons and how then the the electrons Will move back down Uh-huh. And sort of shift from a higher excited energy state to a lower energy state?

Jam: 11:42

Right.

Melissa: 11:42

And when they do that, they let off energy?

Jam: 11:45

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Melissa: 11:46

So gamma energy is basically that, Where an excited electron relaxes back down to the ground state, but it just so happens that the exact amount of energy between the excited and the relaxed states is in the gamma range on the electromatics electromagnetic spectrum. So it's just they just essentially give off radioactive energy instead of visible light or something like that.

Jam: 12:11

I see what you're saying. Right. Right. Yeah. Because we've talked about that where we can see it visually because it's in the range of visible light.

Melissa: 12:17

Yes.

Jam: 12:17

And there in this situation, it is in the range of gamma radiation, not in the range of visible light.

Melissa: 12:24

Yes. So there's that That electromagnetic spectrum, which I feel like is often it's got the rainbow in it, and then it sometimes it uses other colors to represent, like, Infrared, microwave, you know, whatever. And so it just so happens that these give off they don't give off microwaves. They don't give off visible light. They give off gamma radiation as the exact space between those electrons that's giving off energy.

Jam: 12:47

Is that higher than The or lower than the range?

Melissa: 12:51

I can never remember. I always have to go look up because it's like wavelength and frequency are opposite.

Jam: 12:57

Right. Right. I wonder if because infrared's lower. Ultravolts higher.

Melissa: 13:03

Uh-huh.

Jam: 13:03

Right? Yeah.

Melissa: 13:04

I can pull up the electromagnetic spectrum real quick, And we can look. Okay. Here we go. The electromagnetic spectrum. So radio waves and microwaves are on the far side of the visible region

Jam: 13:21

k.

Melissa: 13:21

With infrared. And then on this side, on the nearer side, is ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma ray.

Jam: 13:28

Got it. So as it's starting to get more, faster

Melissa: 13:31

Higher energy

Jam: 13:32

Higher energy.

Melissa: 13:33

Smaller Frequency. Smaller wavelength. Yeah. Yeah. Get those the the because they're inverted.

Melissa: 13:39

I always have to let those up. Yeah. But yeah. So they're There's higher energy, so, essentially, they're just shooting out dangerous energy when they relax. Got it.

Melissa: 13:49

So

Jam: 13:50

Dangerous energy.

Melissa: 13:51

Dangerous energy. Not just visible energy. I mean, even ultraviolet is dangerous.

Jam: 13:57

Right.

Melissa: 13:57

X-ray is dangerous, and then gamma is even more dangerous.

Jam: 14:01

Okay.

Melissa: 14:01

Is it kind of maybe a good way to think of it?

Jam: 14:03

Okay.

Melissa: 14:04

Maybe they don't want to look it up every time if I could just remember that. Because ultraviolet, you know, that's what damages our skin. We've done a lot of episodes about that.

Jam: 14:12

Yeah. A 100%.

Melissa: 14:13

And we also can't see that, which is fun to imagine being able to see it. Yeah. Okay. Let me find my place here. K.

Melissa: 14:26

So that's we've gone over the 2 sort of types of radiation that are gonna come into play. And I don't know if I hit this hard enough, but with alpha radiation, with the alpha particles and the alpha decay, When you're losing those 2 protons, the original atom that's giving off those 2 protons and 2 neutrons, it's changing identity. So it's Okay. Breaking down into something else.

Jam: 14:48

Right. Right.

Melissa: 14:50

So in the case of smoke detectors, which you're probably like, what does this have to do with smoke detectors? Yeah.

Jam: 14:57

It's like, are they detecting radiation

Melissa: 15:00

No. In

Jam: 15:00

their homes? Hopefully not.

Melissa: 15:01

They're generating radiation.

Jam: 15:03

Oh.

Melissa: 15:04

I know. Okay. Safe.

Jam: 15:06

Okay.

Melissa: 15:08

Okay. So in the case of smoke detectors, safely protected Inside your smoke detector, there is a little bit of radiation happening.

Jam: 15:18

Okay.

Melissa: 15:19

So it's small. It's a protected space. I I sort of got conflicting information, and I couldn't find a good scientific paper on this.

Jam: 15:27

Mhmm.

Melissa: 15:28

Some said that There's gamma and alpha particles. The other said only alpha particles. I keep saying gamma particles, but I guess I just mean gamma energy.

Jam: 15:37

Okay. Okay.

Melissa: 15:38

So Gamma decay and alpha decay, I've heard both of those, and I also heard just alpha. Okay. To me, just alpha or primarily alpha radiation Makes the most sense because it'd be really easy to stop that from leaking out.

Jam: 15:52

Right.

Melissa: 15:53

But it also is a very small amount. So maybe because it's so small, it's not really dangerous to have that in our smoke detectors.

Jam: 16:00

Okay.

Melissa: 16:01

But it is safe.

Jam: 16:02

Okay.

Melissa: 16:02

So in our enclosed space of our smoke detectors, there is usually, like, some kind of metal, and in the very center of the metal is a little bit A little bit, like, a 100 nanograms or less Uh-huh. Of something called americium. Americium. I never know how to say those. Okay.

Melissa: 16:26

It's an element, and it's a radioactive isotope of the element. Okay. And there's just that little bit of it. And in addition to that, there is a positively charged plate and a negatively charged plate. So, like, an anode and a cathode, if you wanna use the fancy words for it.

Melissa: 16:43

Okay. So what happens is the americium emits alpha, possibly also gamma particles. And when those are emitted and they interact with the air, it will ionize the air, the molecules in the air.

Jam: 17:01

Okay.

Melissa: 17:02

So it kinda bothers me when people are like, oh, it ionizes the air because the air is nothing. You know? Right. Right.

Jam: 17:09

Right. Like, what elements what atoms is it? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa: 17:12

So the atoms that are in the air become ionized, which sort of the way I in my mind is like, oh, we're shooting out these positively charged heliums, basically. Uh-huh. And they come into contact with something else, and They can take the electrons from that thing. And then now that thing is positively charged, and it's gonna try to go, you know, get something. And so now we have all kinds of different being shifted around back and forth making some positive ions in the gaseous molecules in the air and some negative ions.

Melissa: 17:44

Okay. And then you put that between 2 positively and negatively charged plates, and they'll kinda nicely organize themselves and create a current running between those 2 positively charged plates. And this reminded me so much of when we did the batteries. It's like Yeah. The ionized electrons bridge the gap there, and they sort of they make a current.

Melissa: 18:07

They close that. You know? The gap between those to, positively and negatively charged plates. They complete the circuit, so a current is running through At all times, your smoke detector.

Jam: 18:20

Right. Okay. K.

Melissa: 18:22

Now when smoke particles start to move through the air and get into our smoke detector, they'll start to interact with those ions, disrupt those ions. Okay. And I'm assuming Other things might also. But if it's low enough concentration, I'm I feel like probably your, smoke detector is fine just sort of, You know, mitigating that. It's like, oh, 1 or 2, not a big deal.

Melissa: 18:48

But if enough particles start to float in And it disrupts the flow and the current the flow of electrons and the current in the smoke detector enough Uh-huh. This smoke recognizes that the current is shut off, sort of like if you took the batteries out of something and it's not working anymore.

Jam: 19:05

Okay.

Melissa: 19:05

And that sets off the alarm.

Jam: 19:07

Okay.

Melissa: 19:08

I sort of thought of it like the Indiana Jones. Like, once that weight is taken off

Jam: 19:13

Yeah.

Melissa: 19:13

The the alarm sound when the booby trap is Yes. So I feel like it's similar. Once the current is gone, once the batteries are taken out, essentially Yeah. The batteries that the Amyrisia makes, It sends off a danger, danger, you know, kind of thing.

Jam: 19:29

Okay. Interesting.

Melissa: 19:30

So that's how ionized Well, the ionizing smoke detector has work.

Jam: 19:36

Wow.

Melissa: 19:37

So a little bit of radiation chemistry. That's your chemistry lesson. Uh-huh. And then put it into the Text of the smoke detector.

Jam: 19:44

Okay. Okay. Wow.

Melissa: 19:45

We haven't had, like, a brand new chemistry information lesson in a while.

Jam: 19:49

Yeah. That's definitely a lot there and certainly way more I would have expected End up. Smoke detectors.

Melissa: 19:55

What do you think you thought happened in them?

Jam: 19:57

I guess I thought there was some specific element that maybe it could, like, kinda detect 4 in smoke. Mhmm. You know, that, like, maybe isn't already in the air, but that might not really be true or, like, How would it detect it? I mean Yeah. How?

Jam: 20:10

You know? Other than something like this where it interrupts the circuit. You know? Well, I

Melissa: 20:13

could think of one other way, but I won't tell you till next

Jam: 20:25

But clearly, you know, I couldn't really bridge the gap very much. That's so crazy.

Melissa: 20:31

I know there's literally a little bit of radiation. Also, radiation just by itself to me is crazy. I mean, because what I guess I didn't say this, but I probably should have. The It looks like America, so that's why I don't know how to say it really. Yeah.

Melissa: 20:46

Emits these alpha particles, and it actually breaks down into Neptunia.

Jam: 20:52

Okay.

Melissa: 20:53

Because it get is getting rid of his protons.

Jam: 20:55

Right. Right.

Melissa: 20:56

So it it changes identities right there in your smoke detector.

Jam: 21:01

And so is that probably one reason why smoke detectors only last so long? Like, they have a shelf life.

Melissa: 21:06

I would think so, actually. Yeah.

Jam: 21:07

There's a finite number of these atoms here that are doing this thing.

Melissa: 21:11

That's my guess.

Jam: 21:11

Okay. Interesting.

Melissa: 21:13

I don't know for sure, but I did think about that while I didn't realize that smoke detectors had a life span. Uh-huh. But while I was doing this, I was like, well, what happens when all the is broken down

Jam: 21:24

to Neptunium? Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. I guess that's why or, like, I mean, maybe maybe they also just get less Effective, and maybe it'll require

Melissa: 21:35

too much smoke to, like, really be safe at a certain point Yeah. Maybe so.

Jam: 21:38

Where it need to I don't know. That's crazy. I have, like, kind of 2 analogies floating around in my head Okay.

Melissa: 21:45

That, you know, could either of them work. We'll just see what happens. Okay? So Lay them on me.

Jam: 21:49

The first one is Probably similar to what I don't remember exactly what analogy we ended up using when we talked about batteries a while ago. Mhmm.

Melissa: 21:56

But, you

Jam: 21:56

know, there's just this there's a flow of something. Mhmm. Like, say, traffic. You know? And if something interrupts that Mhmm.

Jam: 22:05

Then it's messes everything up. If it halts the flow Yeah. Then that's something that we've all experienced the downside of. And so it's kinda it's not that hard to imagine that happening in, like, this very, like, Electron subatomic, you know, whatever Right. Way, where there's a flow is happening.

Jam: 22:24

And if something interrupts it, it's detectable. Yeah. And it can you could Have something set it off. So

Melissa: 22:30

Mhmm.

Jam: 22:30

If those smoke particles that are starting to float up and get in with the air, the The atoms that are they're helium wait. Sorry. Look, the atoms of the Americo

Melissa: 22:49

Americium. Americium. Yeah. I think. They I always say

Jam: 22:55

it wrong. Americium. They are

Melissa: 22:58

positively charged.

Jam: 22:59

Mhmm. And they would rather be stable. Correct?

Melissa: 23:03

Mhmm.

Jam: 23:04

They'd rather have electrons to make them Yes. Even. And so as they are getting

Melissa: 23:10

2 plus, that's crazy. Well, for such a tiny little it's I mean, it'd be like, basically, a hydrogen that has positive charges? That's a lot for a little atom, like the helium.

Jam: 23:22

So is there as they are, able to steal electrons Mhmm. From the atoms in the air.

Melissa: 23:29

Yes.

Jam: 23:30

They are happy if things are going well and stuff. But if smoke starts getting intermixed into that, they can't do that, and, oh, that's a piece I'm missing. Dang it.

Melissa: 23:42

So you kind of so you missed the charged plates.

Jam: 23:45

Okay. Yes. Charge plates.

Melissa: 23:46

They line up. So I think they it ionizes the air. It goes and interacts with things. There's lots of, Reactions happening to ionizing molecules in the air.

Jam: 23:56

Right. Right.

Melissa: 23:56

And I think probably the energy that's emitted, if there is a gamma energy, which was Not clear to me. I got conflicting information. Not probably also putting energy into things helps them react. It helps them move around and interact with other things.

Jam: 24:10

Okay.

Melissa: 24:10

So there are positively charged and negatively charged things now floating around in this little contained space of your smoke

Jam: 24:16

detector. Right. Right.

Melissa: 24:18

And then the charge plates line them up.

Jam: 24:20

Yes. And the charge plates line up, and things are flowing

Melissa: 24:23

Mhmm.

Jam: 24:23

Correctly, and everything's happy until Smoke starts getting in there and messing up with that that flow and this little self contained kind of, ecosystem almost

Melissa: 24:34

Yes.

Jam: 24:34

Of charged things, Getting what they want and exchanging, you know, electrons and flowing, all that kind of stuff Mhmm. That interrupts that. And something in this mode detector, Just like, say, I don't know, a traffic reporter or whatever

Melissa: 24:49

Yeah.

Jam: 24:49

Is gonna be looking for that all the time.

Melissa: 24:51

Mhmm.

Jam: 24:52

And as soon as it happens, It's like, uh-oh. Red alert. There's traffic here.

Melissa: 24:56

Yeah.

Jam: 24:56

Something is not working as it should. Our little happy ecosystem community is being, altered in some way.

Melissa: 25:04

Mhmm.

Jam: 25:04

So that's one thing I thought of, the traffic deal. Yeah. Another thing I kind of is in my head was just like You know how in movies when

Melissa: 25:12

Oh, gosh. Someone is I feel like this is gonna be dumb.

Jam: 25:15

It's it's not quite as dumb as it seems right now. Whenever someone has really actually, this is true well, yeah, this is true in Chernobyl, not to the degree I was thinking. But When someone has really good really important information

Melissa: 25:29

Mhmm.

Jam: 25:29

That people don't want to get out Oh. You know, there's that moment where it's like

Melissa: 25:34

Like in Erin Brockovich? I haven't seen that. That's, like, the 2nd time in the

Jam: 25:37

past 2 weeks someone's referenced that, and I have no idea what any of that is about Okay.

Melissa: 25:41

Sorry.

Jam: 25:41

Other than Julie Roberts' in it.

Melissa: 25:43

Yeah. Well, it's also chemistry, but it doesn't matter.

Jam: 25:46

Okay. Anyway, I need to watch that movie, I guess, and read her Wikipedia page. So Whenever someone has important information that other people don't want out, you know, you have a meeting and you say, like, if I don't call so and so if I don't call my contact, After this meeting, at midnight, they're gonna send out this package to the New York Times. Whatever.

Melissa: 26:07

Okay. They're

Jam: 26:08

like, okay. There's a standing order

Melissa: 26:09

Yes.

Jam: 26:10

To follow this thing and send this thing out Yes. If I don't stop you or whatever.

Melissa: 26:15

Yes.

Jam: 26:15

So I kind of think, like, this you could sort of Reversing to do that into this mode texture.

Melissa: 26:20

Will sound the alarm if we don't hear from you.

Jam: 26:22

Yeah. Mhmm. If for any reason our flow of communication Stops. Sound the alarm.

Melissa: 26:29

A lot of times, women do that on dates. It's like if you're going on a date with someone you don't really know I mean, men should probably do this too, but I think Women are maybe a little bit more vulnerable because we're oftentimes smaller than the person we're meeting. The it'll be like, okay. If I don't hear from you, I'm I'm gonna start to get worried. So, like, turn your location on so that I can sound the alarm.

Melissa: 26:50

So it's kinda it is kinda like that. Like check-in

Jam: 26:52

if you don't check-in by 10, then yeah.

Melissa: 26:54

When the flow of information is interrupted, then we start to get worried.

Jam: 26:58

Yeah.

Melissa: 26:58

And that is, like, when the flow and the current is interrupted Yeah. Then the alarm goes

Jam: 27:03

off. Send out the classified documents. Do it. I didn't tell you stop. Do it.

Jam: 27:08

And then that's when spoke to Twitter goes off. Yeah. Something like that. So a mixture of traffic and spy movies and date and dates with And dates. Strangers.

Melissa: 27:17

Yes. So So when I'm not getting the information that I know everything is K. This smoke detector, it's like 1 or 2 interactions. Not a big deal, but if there's a interruption Yeah. Smoke detector breaks out.

Jam: 27:30

Yeah.

Melissa: 27:30

It's like if it takes you longer to text back okay. Yeah. If I don't hear from you for 10 minutes, I'm like, she's dead. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa: 27:37

Yeah. Yeah. So that that's a good analogy. I like that.

Jam: 27:41

There's definitely enough there where I'm like, this is a tough one, but I think I get the gist of it. But there's There's so many little parts of it that I feel like it just I don't know. It's hard. Yeah. It's harder than I expected it to be.

Melissa: 27:55

It's like step 1, you get radiation emitted. And then step 2, that radiation, depending on the type, at least the alpha we know, the particles, And then possibly gamma energy facilitates some of this, causes the molecules in the air to be ionized. Uh-huh. And then step 3, they all line up. They get you little ducks in the row with these, you know, these plates that are charged.

Melissa: 28:22

And then step 4 is Now we're just constantly monitoring until something goes wrong. You know?

Jam: 28:27

So that error is creating the bridge, basically. Right? Are we saying that the

Melissa: 28:32

ionized particles. That's the most likely that some of the the radiation itself, like those alpha particles might be involved, but my imagination is I I'm this chemistry off the cuff. This is in my imagination is that there's all kinds of ionized particles in there. Like Right. Right.

Melissa: 28:51

Maybe there's some alpha particles that picked up an electron. Maybe there's some alpha particles that picked up 2 electrons.

Jam: 28:58

Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

Melissa: 28:59

And then they probably stole it from some place, so there might be, like, an oxygen that's lost an electron. Yeah. So in my mind, it's sort of, It's a whole mixture of different, you know, types of ions going to complete the circuit.

Jam: 29:11

Okay. Yeah.

Melissa: 29:13

Either way, electrons are flowing to make an electric current

Jam: 29:16

Yeah.

Melissa: 29:16

That tells the smoke detector that everything is okay.

Jam: 29:19

Yes. Yes. And there's a plate that really wants Those electrons. Mhmm. There are there are different charge things that are gonna if they can find a way Yeah.

Jam: 29:27

And there's enough things available, they're gonna want to do it. Yeah. So that helps too. It's like, If the conditions start happening, 1 of us is ready to take some electrons, and 1 of us has some extras.

Melissa: 29:37

Right. And yeah. And I think the Going back to the battery episode where we talked about the current of electrons flowing through and how when there's no battery that interrupts it, and when the battery's present, it completes the circuit. Right. That is almost the exact same idea.

Melissa: 29:52

Like, I just kept thinking about batteries.

Jam: 29:54

Yeah.

Melissa: 29:54

Only instead of batteries, the thing that's completing the circuit in this case is The ions that are created by the radiation, which is crazy.

Jam: 30:04

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is so crazy.

Melissa: 30:06

And there are probably also batteries on the other side of it 2 Yeah. Yeah. That are powering it. So there's, like, a battery bridge and an ion bridge that is, like, circulating through. Yeah.

Melissa: 30:16

So Dana, that's

Jam: 30:17

so crazy.

Melissa: 30:18

Good one. Okay. Well, thanks. That was really fun. And speaking of fun things, do you have any fun thing do you have any questions on that think we go in.

Jam: 30:27

I think I mostly get it. I mean, I think I get I'm close enough. But I I guess also we'll build on even though it'd be a different method. We'll be building on this idea next week with

Melissa: 30:36

It'll be really different. There's no radiation in the other hand.

Jam: 30:40

Well, it gives me a chance to, You know, understand something that's completely different chemistry wise, but has a similar function in the world, which is pretty cool.

Melissa: 30:50

And I'll probably have you compare and contrast the 2 as well

Jam: 31:04

You asked me if I had something fun Yeah. In my week. Okay. Well, the I think the biggest highlight is that, we've been trying to find a time for my mom and my brother to come visit Mhmm. From Abilene.

Jam: 31:17

And, unfortunately, my brother had some work stuff come up, so he couldn't come. So he's gonna come a different weekend. My mom got to come hang out with us this past weekend.

Melissa: 31:25

Oh, nice.

Jam: 31:25

And that was really fun. Obviously, my son just loves getting time with her and stuff, so was really fun. A lot of cute moments and just but also, like, a lot of just chilling and none no huge events. Nothing, like, crazy or whatever. Cooked to dinner one of the nights, which was really fun.

Jam: 31:44

But, yeah, it was just good to get some Time together, and I think also this is kinda fun because my son being, like, two and a half, he gets excited about people coming to visit A lot more than he used to. And, like, we can kinda build it up across the week and stuff like that. And he just I don't know. And he's, like he He's very much, like, loves everyone being here all the time.

Melissa: 32:07

Yes. He really does. Yeah. He's always excited to see me. Yes.

Melissa: 32:11

It's like, It does not matter. Yep.

Jam: 32:13

And whenever people leave, even if they're just, like, dropping something by or whatever it is, or even if they're like, my mom was here for, like, a whole weekend. Multiple days, he just has

Melissa: 32:22

this general, like, why did they even need to leave? Like, why'd they go from Rome? I was, like, over here 1 night and I to record. And then I left, and then Mason came to do coffee because our lives are so intertwined. And Mason told me, oh, Josh's son, you know, he is kept talking about how sad he was that you left.

Melissa: 32:42

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He'd be he's like, where's Melissa?

Jam: 32:45

And he's like that. Like, Sometimes I always be like, come to my house. Like, those things are like that. Like, it's like, dude, people have

Melissa: 32:52

their own places to live and

Jam: 32:54

their own things to do. You know? But he doesn't get that. He's just like, why can't we all always be together?

Melissa: 32:59

One time, Emily had to explain to him that I had to go clean. Yeah. And she told him That our house is a big mess because that's what she has just described cleaning up. And I was like, oh, great. So you're just telling him our house is a big mess.

Melissa: 33:12

Yeah. Yeah. But it was Cute. It's cute to imagine him.

Jam: 33:15

And it's relatable to him because he knows, like we'll be like, dude, we gotta clean up. It's a big mess. You got

Melissa: 33:20

a lot of toys out or whatever.

Jam: 33:21

So Even though it does make us seem probably worse than it actually is. But he'd be

Melissa: 33:25

like, oh, big mess. It was a big mess. Oh, okay. So it just is so cute how It's like you have to give him an explanation of what's happening.

Jam: 33:35

Yeah. What about you? What's been going on in your week?

Melissa: 33:40

Mine's Mine's sort of similar in that it involves traveling, but not someone traveling to visit me. I left.

Jam: 33:48

Yeah.

Melissa: 33:48

I went to Auburn.

Jam: 33:50

And you're gone for a while.

Melissa: 33:51

I'm gone all the time now. I'm in this weird phase, and I kinda thought it would calm down in the new year, but Maybe not. Maybe this is just the way this job is. I think it's part of it is by my own design because I really like to work in person with Right. The people that I'm working with.

Melissa: 34:07

So I go to Auburn once a wee or once a week. Once a semester for about a week Yeah. To work with the grad students that I work with, you know, virtually all the time. And it's really nice to get that FaceTime in, and it just makes it just a little bit more comfortable and easier to have that community. And So I really enjoyed it, and, actually, Mason came with me

Jam: 34:28

Oh, cool. Yeah.

Melissa: 34:29

For just, like, the 1st few days. So we got to, like, kind of, like, have a little weekend getaway, and he got to meet the people I work with too because it's weird. Like, how you've never met these people? I spend all my with him.

Jam: 34:40

And they know things about

Melissa: 34:41

him, and you've probably told Mason things about your coworkers,

Jam: 34:44

but never have the 2 met. And Right. It's not it's not easy to accomplish that. It's not like, oh, going to dinner after work or something. We just didn't come.

Jam: 34:50

It's like it had to take extra effort

Melissa: 34:52

Mhmm.

Jam: 34:52

To pull it off.

Melissa: 34:53

But it was really fun. We got to stay in this really cute Airbnb in Atlanta. And, Yeah. I just had a really good time, and I've always really liked working with my coworkers. But yes.

Melissa: 35:02

And our my traveling schedule is wild, so Expect to keep hearing me talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. I've got a conference in March, and then April's pretty chill, but I'll probably go back to Auburn in May. Uh-huh.

Melissa: 35:15

And then another con conference in it might be in July. So Okay. Maybe June May, June, I'll

Jam: 35:20

probably go back to

Melissa: 35:21

Auburn. Yeah.

Jam: 35:22

Oh, yeah.

Melissa: 35:22

To go

Jam: 35:23

back there.

Melissa: 35:23

But so it'll probably go at a lower rate. But

Jam: 35:26

Yeah.

Melissa: 35:27

I just you know? It's kind of fun. I'm one of those people who travels for work

Jam: 35:31

Nice. Nice.

Melissa: 35:31

You know? Yeah. But it does it is weird because then I haven't seen my friends at home for a while. You know? So then it's like when I'm trying to plan something, I was like, oh, yeah.

Melissa: 35:40

Yeah. Maybe in 2 weeks. Yeah. So That's

Jam: 35:45

cool that was

Melissa: 35:45

So that was my fun it was fun to go to Auburn and work with my coworkers. I really enjoyed it.

Jam: 35:53

And also it's cool that basically if I have to go, because who knows how often that will actually be able to happen. So And

Melissa: 35:57

then whenever I after he went back and I was working. I was able to say, like, oh, I had dinner at this place, and he's been there. You know? And so that made it, you know, nicer too.

Jam: 36:06

Yeah. That's true.

Melissa: 36:07

So that was my happy thing for the week.

Jam: 36:09

Very cool.

Melissa: 36:11

Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for, thanks for learning about smoke detectors and having something relatable about it, the fact that you don't have 1 in your kitchen, which is concerning. Yep.

Jam: 36:19

Very concerning.

Melissa: 36:20

And thanks to all of our listeners and viewers To, make this show possible because we wouldn't be able to learn all about chemistry and share about it.

Jam: 36:31

Yeah. And didn't we didn't this topic come from a listener?

Melissa: 36:34

Yes. And that was a really good idea. I had never thought about it. And then I was gripped with the fact that I didn't know.

Jam: 36:40

Yeah. Seriously.

Melissa: 36:42

So that was a really good one. Thanks. Shout out again to s d Pete on Instagram.

Jam: 36:46

S d Pete. We've, you know, we've got a lot of our own ideas About topics Kim shared with every life, but we love hearing from you guys. And y'all ideas are some of the best episodes we end up having. So please send those our way. If you've got an idea, you can reach out to us on our website atchemforyourlife.com.

Jam: 37:01

That's kemforyourlife.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/kem 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 join, you could still help us by subscribing on our favorite podcast app and rating and writing a review on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us to share chemistry on with even more people. And, also, you could subscribe.

Melissa: 37:27

Dang it. Yeah.

Jam: 37:27

Why don't even

Melissa: 37:30

This episode of chemistry for your life was created by Melissa and Jam Robinson. Jam Robinson is our producer, and this episode was made possible by our financial supporters over on Patreon. It means so much to us that you wanna help chemistry be accessible to even more people. Those supporters are Avishai B, Bree 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, Sam n, Steven b, Timothy p, and Venus R. Thanks again for everything you do to make chemistry for your life happen.

Jam: 38:12

We'd also like to give a Special thanks to our team of reviewers who reviewed this episode before it went out. And if you'd like to learn more about today's chemistry lesson, you can check out the references for this episode in our show notes or on our website.