How do thermoses keep coffee hot?
Hey, everyone. For this month's rebroadcast, I'm so excited because it goes perfectly in line with what happens to coffee when it cools down.
Jam:Oh, right. Or maybe preventing coffee from cooling down.
Melissa:Preventing coffee from cooling down. This is one of our really early episodes, and I really liked it. And it's all about how thermoses keep coffee hot.
Jam:Thermos, you know, Hydro Flask, All the brands that exist?
Melissa:Anything that keeps your coffee insulated.
Jam:And I remember loving this one too and being right before COVID happened.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Melissa:It was. It was in 2020. Yeah.
Jam:And I had no idea how they worked, and it's pretty fascinating.
Melissa:It may have been the last one we recorded in Or did in person before COVID hit?
Jam:I think that's probably true. Wow.
Melissa:So enjoy this blast from the past and learn how to not get those weird things that make your Coffee tastes not good.
Jam:Happy listening.
Melissa:Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:And I'm Jam.
Melissa:And 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:Jim, I see you've got your coffee Hydro Flask over there.
Jam:I do have my coffee hydro Flask over here. I also have my coffee mug, which I pour the coffee into.
Melissa:So Now that we record in my office, Jam brings a a Hydro Flask Canteen. Is that what those are called?
Jam:I think it it could be called a canteen.
Melissa:I don't think thermos?
Jam:A thermos. Because I think not all canteens have, like, the the, like, heat keeping Temperatures, whatever it is, you call it that makes things stay hot for a long time or cold for a long time?
Melissa:Right.
Jam:I don't think all canteens have that, but I think Thermoses do.
Melissa:Right. Well, so that's a thermos Yes. Of some kind. It's a wide mouth hydroflask that you bring your coffee in.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:And I I bet you've wondered how it does such a good job of keeping your drinks hot or cold.
Jam:I have wondered that, and I've I've asked people who aren't scientists Sometimes. I can't remember who, but I have just a small amount of layman's collected data About why perhaps, perchaps, it, it keeps things High and cold.
Melissa:Perch chaps. Moe, what did you find out?
Jam:I found out that it is A vacuum layer and that there's supposedly supposed to be Mhmm. Nothing In there.
Melissa:That's right.
Jam:Including no air.
Melissa:Okay. So let's talk about what that means.
Jam:But the reason I brought up my mug too Is that both of these things have that?
Melissa:Your mug is vacuum insulated? Mhmm. Wow. It's it's hard
Jam:to tell because it's not very thick.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:But there's Nothing between these 2 layers of metal Well except for nothing.
Melissa:Sometimes there are double walled insulation that do have air in them.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:So it's hard to say for sure, but we're talking specifically about ones with a vacuum layer between the 2.
Jam:Okay. So not all things have a vacuum layer is what you're saying. Okay. Got it.
Melissa:So the way these mugs work essentially is by not allowing heat to cross from one to the other side, from the inside to the outside. He can't cross. That's the basics.
Jam:So like a Gandalf saying you shall not pass kinda deal?
Melissa:Right. Or when Arwen brings up the river and it gets all those.
Jam:Oh, yes.
Melissa:Mhmm. That's such a good scene.
Jam:You know, in the book, it's Glorfindel who does that, not Arwen.
Melissa:I didn't know that. I do love the books.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:I watched that scene just the other day with my friend and former roommate, Ashley. Uh-huh. So it was fresh in my mind.
Jam:It's an awesome scene.
Melissa:And the whole scene leading up to it, it's just, so awesome. Yeah. Okay. So It's like that where it says no thing is gonna pass here.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:To talk about how it does that, we kind of have to talk about what heat even is.
Jam:Okay. Yeah.
Melissa:We've talked about this before, but just to revisit, heat is not temperature.
Jam:Okay. Yes.
Melissa:Temperature is a measure of heat.
Jam:Right. Right. Right. Right.
Melissa:Or really temperature is even a measure of energy.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Heat is defined chemist in chemistry and thermodynamics as the quantity of energy that flows across a boundary between a system and a surrounding. So, basically, it's the transfer of thermal energy. This is heat.
Jam:Heat is the transfer of thermal energy. Mhmm. K.
Melissa:So heat is the thing that's flowing.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So if If you put a cold thing in a hot room, heat will naturally go from areas of a higher temperature to lower temperature.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So that's why when you've got your hot coffee and you put it in a relatively cool room
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:The coffee loses its heat to the surroundings.
Jam:Yeah. So it wants to things want to balance out. And want is a weird word to use here, but, like
Melissa:Right.
Jam:That's If there's a difference, there's a hot thing and a cold thing
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And they're in contact in some way or something like that.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:They want to kinda Mean the middle.
Melissa:Yes. Heat is just thermal energy, and it it's just a form of energy, and the heat always flows from regions of higher temperature to lower temperature.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So it's going from where it's hotter to where it's cooler so that things even out.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So that's it. That's heat. It's gonna flow.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But have you thought about how it flows from one thing to another?
Jam:I I haven't really. I mean, all I know about that is that some things conduct well Mhmm. Which is, I guess, sometimes brought up when people talk about electricity Yeah. But other times talked about with heat because I mean, for the for the layman like me, it matters With how not not to get burned by something. Like Right.
Jam:If you have a pot that has a wooden handle, you are at lower risk of burning your hand When you pick it up, if it's been on the burner. Just stuff like that that's in one of practical use about how heat moves from thing to thing
Melissa:or whatever. Right.
Jam:But that's really it. I would say there's not much else that I know about how it moves and why some things are good at conducting Heat and why some things aren't or why they stop it or whatever.
Melissa:Right. So heat, what happens to something when you heat it up is it's The molecules move around more.
Jam:Okay. Okay.
Melissa:So the kinetic energy of the molecules is moving around more as it's hotter.
Jam:Okay. As the
Melissa:thing is heating up as you're putting heat into it, and the temperature is rising.
Jam:The so do you say what what's moving around?
Melissa:The molecules themselves.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And we talked about this Mhmm. When we talked about sea level rise.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:We talked about How that's essentially how thermometers work. As things heat up, they move around more.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:And we gave the example of when something's really cold. I think we said it's like a 2 year old who's Snapping and then a 2 year old moving around a ton is after you put some energy into it.
Jam:Takes up more space even though The same amount, technically, of 2 year old?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:That 2 year old is taking up more space by running around and jumping on the couch.
Melissa:Right. So as you put energy in, it moves around more. So if you give it to your ultra sugar, it's gonna be even crazier.
Jam:Yes. Okay. Got it.
Melissa:So those molecules moving, if You put a warm thing with molecules moving around and lots of what's called kinetic energy or motion, movement
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Next is something that's cold. Mhmm. Something with very little kinetic energy movement motion. Mhmm. The kinetic energy will balance out between the 2 of them.
Jam:Got it. Okay.
Melissa:So will the temperature balance out between the 2 of them?
Jam:Because temperature causes Movement in the molecules, it's causing kinetic something.
Melissa:Well, be careful about the word cause. The energy is causing the molecules to move.
Jam:The energy is causing the molecules to the
Melissa:increased energy corresponds to increased temperature.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So more movement, warmer thing.
Jam:The movement happens first.
Melissa:They go hand in hand.
Jam:Movement and temperature
Melissa:Mhmm. They're
Jam:happening at the same time.
Melissa:Yeah. So if you put energy in, the molecules are going to move more, and that's as they are raising in temperature. But the amount of temperature that they raise, the amount of energy you have to put in to raise the temperature, all that is way more complicated.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But all you need to know is increasing the temperature causes things to move. And as that comes into contact with other things, they
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Gain or lose energy also.
Jam:Okay. And increasing the temperature means you're, in some way, introducing more heat. Energy. Oh, you know, more energy. More Thermal energy.
Melissa:So Which is heat.
Jam:Putting it on a burner or Exactly. Like running it under hot water or whatever it is. Something has to introduce that.
Melissa:That's right.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So that's that is when I think about something heating up, I have a mental picture Sure. In my mind Mhmm. Of molecules moving more.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:The little molecules, like when you zoom in at the atomic level, or moving around even more.
Jam:Yes. Okay.
Melissa:That's what happens as you heat things up.
Jam:The 2 year olds, they're running around. Mhmm. Okay.
Melissa:So if you put something with a lot of kinetic energy that's all hot and moving around Mhmm. Like a cup of coffee Mhmm. That's not insulated. You put it down, and Over time as it comes into contact with the outside surroundings
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:The temperature will even out.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And the temperature of that thing will stay roughly the same as the temperature of the room.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Okay. So why doesn't that happen in vacuum flasks?
Jam:Is it because you're preventing, I can't I'm trying to not to use the wrong words here. So I'm thinking about it like this.
Melissa:Let me just make sure too that I said this clearly. The movement of the molecules is almost what's transferring the heat. As the molecules move, the kinetic energy is gonna balance out as well as the temperature.
Jam:Okay. So, like, you've got some molecules over here moving a lot. Mhmm. Gas molecules over here that are not Yes. Like, rhymed.
Jam:That was pretty cool.
Melissa:That that was pretty cool.
Jam:And That movement starts to even out because these guys over here are like, woah. Will you guys chill out, please? Like, seriously.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:It's not that big a deal. Calm down.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And the guys over here feel weird, obviously, because they're like, oh, I I guess we got all those moving around. Like, that's I don't wanna feel I don't wanna be embarrassed. Like, I wanna blend in. And so slowly, they realize that and chill out.
Melissa:And so they come to the same these guys come down a little. These guys go up a little.
Jam:Yeah. And
Melissa:then when gets dispersed.
Jam:Itself Disperses.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:That's what's happening.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Okay. That is helpful.
Melissa:That's a great understanding. So now what do you think is happening that's different in vacuum flasks? And before you answer
Jam:Oh, no.
Melissa:Let's take a break and let our listeners try to think and give me their answer too. I
Jam:like that idea, And that gives me a chance to think too. Okay. Here's my theory. I'm gonna say it in, like, a non science y way first and then try to apply some science y Things to it.
Melissa:Okay.
Jam:So my thought is when you have a regular old mug
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Ceramic mug Mhmm. Sitting in a room on a counter. Mhmm. The temperature of the counter and the air around it and swipe that? Mhmm.
Jam:Meaning the molecules, like, level of movement or whatever?
Melissa:The kinetic energy.
Jam:Kinetic energy can,
Melissa:Just so you guys know, when Jim said movement, he wiggled around on his chair to demonstrate the movement.
Jam:Yeah. I just needed her to know what I was saying, And it's a very science y way to do it. You may make sure your body's reflecting what you're talking about. In science, it's what we like to do.
Melissa:So science communication.
Jam:I So it can connect to connect is, like, the best way I can think of?
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:The molecules and their movement inside the coffee cup, through the ceramic Cup. To me, just seems to make a stretch to think like, okay. Table molecules to cup molecules to coffee molecules.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Seems like not a stretch. Right. Because whenever I hold on to a coffee cup that's ceramic
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Even I can feel
Melissa:Right.
Jam:That That it's warm. Mhmm. And I can put a coffee mug down, that's ceramic
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:On the table for, like, a minute, move it, Put my hand where that mug was and feel that warmth.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:So clearly, something's able to, you know, affect other molecules.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:So my thought is when you just like, a a vacuum layer
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:That it somehow is a really good barrier To keep those molecules from affecting each other, the kinetic energy not being able to, like, mess with each other.
Melissa:That's exactly right. So I was hoping that you would gain enough information from the first part about heat and how it works to come to that conclusion, and you did. So here's the how it works.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Vacuums have absolutely nothing in them.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:So it's not Air in the way we think of air being nothing. Like, my hand is moving around in the air. It looks like it's not touching anything. But, actually, air that we breathe is made up of and nitrogen and all the molecules in the air.
Jam:What would happen if your hand was in a vacuum?
Melissa:Yikes. I don't I don't know, but I think it would maybe instantly Rip apart?
Jam:Or, like, like, compress something?
Melissa:No. I don't think it would compress because there's no pressure. So I think it would Explode outwards. Like, it would be pulled into the vacuum maybe. Or
Jam:Oh, weird.
Melissa:Or Maybe the water in our blood would start to boil.
Jam:Because there would be no pressure.
Melissa:There would be no pressure. Turf.
Jam:Oh my gosh. Yikes. I was way more terrified I have an answer than I expected.
Melissa:Sorry. Not a good thing to go into a vacuum, but I don't know.
Jam:Put your hand inside of a a vacuum Flask. Just kidding.
Melissa:That would not be possible. So a vacuum is nothing. It's no air. It's nothing's in there. No molecules at all.
Melissa:Okay. So if there are no molecules at all, there's no way for the heat to transfer. There's no way for the energy to transfer. Uh-huh. Because they're not touching each other.
Jam:First of all, the idea of nothing at all is Crazy to to wrap my head around.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:There's nothing in there.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:It's like it's kinda you know, it actually helps me not think of it as so weird. Did you ever, when you're a kid, like, have a glass bottle like you get, like, a glass bottle root beer Mhmm. And you Put your mouth on it and basically, like, inhale the air from it, and then it starts to try to pull your lips in.
Melissa:Yeah. You know
Jam:what I'm talking about? Yeah. That I
Melissa:think that might have been more something my brother would do than something that I did. But, yes, I do know what you're talking about. So
Jam:it's like you start taking Air out Yes. Which you can do a little bit of on your own.
Melissa:Mhmm. And
Jam:then it starts to try to pull things in
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Because it has less of Something than the rest of the of the everything.
Melissa:Yes. That what you just said actually makes sense.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So that's it. That's and you've already actually explained it back to me. So that's the whole episode.
Jam:Man, oops. I didn't mean to explain it back to you.
Melissa:Before I even explained it to you. Right. But, actually, I thought that'd be kinda fun because I felt like if we knew enough about heat and molecules and movement and you already knew that there are vacuum flasks, then you could sort of figure out.
Jam:That's true. We've done some heat and movement stuff in the past already, so I had I had a little bit of pre knowledge from previous, episodes.
Melissa:And we're just 2 we're 2 weeks behind when the recording dates came out. So the day we're recording this Mhmm. Yesterday, the color episode and bleach came out, and you had a hard time with that. I was feeling kinda bad for you. So Yeah.
Melissa:I thought this would be a fun one.
Jam:It's a good gimme, for sure. But it it also is fascinating. It's not it's not like the lesson today was, like, water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen, And you are just doing that to feel can you feel bad for me to, like, do a really easy one? It's like, good job. You you did it.
Jam:Yep. There's 2 elements In water, and it's hydrogen and oxygen. You got it.
Melissa:There's 2 elements with 3 atoms just for the record.
Jam:Because I'll be able to see right through that and be like, okay. You're just We're trying to make me feel better?
Melissa:No. I think this one's super interesting and actually came up when I was talking to my adviser about her child's soup. She had a thermos, a thermos that kept her child's soup warm all day because there wasn't a microwave. Mhmm.
Jam:And I
Melissa:was like, it really keeps it warm all day. Yeah. She's like, yeah. I mean, There's nowhere for the energy to go. And I was like, you're so right.
Melissa:Yeah. And I mean and I do wanna say this. It's not a perfect seal Uh-huh. Because you have to be able to open it to be able to pour things out. Yeah.
Melissa:But most of the time, when you finally do lose heat, it's through the Openings of the imperfect seal, not through the walls of the vacuum flask.
Jam:Right. Right. Right.
Melissa:And it's possible for some things have better seal than others Yeah. When they do the, screwing on of the lid or whatever the threads are tighter.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And it's possible that the Vacuum itself, depending on the manufacturing process, isn't a perfect vacuum. So there might be some molecules left behind, but it's pretty good.
Jam:Yeah. And
Melissa:I think that sort of has to do with the maybe varying levels of how good this vacuum sealed or vacuum insulated cup or bottle is. So Yeah. But, also, we do use these exact things as your water bottles in our chemistry lab.
Jam:Oh, really?
Melissa:So Nitrogen doers need to be able to keep liquid nitrogen cold.
Jam:Oh, yeah.
Melissa:So we have They're actually made of glass, and there's more to it in terms of keeping energy because it's a glass that's mirrored. So I think it also reflects, like, Other types of energy possibly that could occur, but Mhmm. They definitely insulate the thermal energy by being a perfectly vacuum sealed. It has a perfect vacuum layer of insulation for the for the dewar. It's what they call it.
Melissa:And you can pour your liquid nitrogen in there. And initially, because the Thing itself is room temperature. It will boil off.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But then once the whole thing has gotten to the temperature, roughly, of the liquid nitrogen, it'll just stay there.
Jam:That's It'll
Melissa:stay there often even when the top is open, but we had it made. We fashioned ourselves a lid out of foam and put it on there.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And then we broke it, or dew er, and those are very expensive. So as a
Jam:Just for science, you guys broke it? Just to discover
Melissa:what We broke it on accident. It was an accident.
Jam:Oh, okay.
Melissa:So we broke it. And then we were like, well, we don't have the funds in the lab to replace it, so we got a YETI cup. And we used a YETI Cup Mhmm. As a doer, and it was not as effective. Mhmm.
Melissa:But it was not terrible either. So it really does have some of those similar vacuum insulation properties.
Jam:Make your donation to the UNC chemistry department today.
Melissa:No. We have, You know? I mean, you can just make your donation right into your grad students' pockets.
Jam:There you go. Yep. Yep. In the form of food.
Melissa:Innovative. Yeah. In the form we all Love free food. Brad Simmons do.
Jam:One thing I've noticed with this, the the fact that I have this vacuum sealed mug as well as the thermos. Mhmm. Obviously, it's open on the top.
Melissa:It has a it came
Jam:with a lid, but I don't use that because lids are, you know, dumb, and you can't smell the coffee as well. Mhmm. And so it can so the the top is open. So it can lose heat that way to the air. Yes.
Jam:But because everywhere else, it is vacuum sealed around all the edges in the bottom. It stays hot much longer than regular mug, so it still has a really positive effect Right. While still while not having the negatives of Lids and stuff. So I have a not liquid nitrogen story about how amazing vacuum seals are.
Melissa:Okay. I'm ready.
Jam:I used to carpool To Plano, which for people who don't live in this area, it's, like, 50 minutes away. I used to Right. Commute there every day for work. I for a different time, I carpool people who also worked over there. And one of the people I Carpooled with a good friend of mine, also a hype man for our our podcast, my friend Jay.
Melissa:Jay, friend of the podcast. Yes. He was very excited.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:At about our show initially and retweeted, commented, posted every which way to center.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. He's a good dude. So Janet Schicarpaul, I brewed coffee in the morning for both of us. He'd come to my house, and then we'd alternate days, driving and stuff like that.
Jam:So one day, I made coffee for both of us, and then he texted me and said, hey. I'm running late. You might need to leave without me, but, brew some coffee for me. And I had he'd left his vacuum sealed, bottle in my car. We had miscommunication.
Jam:I've thought for some reason that He wanted to drink his coffee on his way down to the office. Wow. So what I did is I put it in his bottle he'd left in my car, Left on the porch, this was a late winter month, probably February, March. So not super hot outside, not insanely cold, but definitely cold ish. Left on the porch outside.
Jam:Misunderstanding because he actually just wanted me to bring it to the office with me. I thought, of course, you wanna drink it while you're driving because that's what I do.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And so I wanted him to have it now. So He gets to the office, and I don't have his coffee because I left it on the porch. And I think I actually texted him I left it on the porch, but he didn't see it. So, anyway, I got back home after work, you know, all day, but 10 ish hours later. Right.
Jam:I go to see how hot it is, and it's Still hot because it was unopened all day, so it never lost any heat in the ways.
Melissa:Amount. Yeah.
Jam:In this particular amount. It was hotter than what I just tasted just now. It was probably god. About a 130, a 140 degrees That's crazy. Potentially.
Jam:So that was some some real life layman science where I was like, there's something to this whole vacuum thing.
Melissa:Yes. There is Something to this whole vacuum thing, and now you know what it is. Yes.
Jam:I know. I know.
Melissa:Use it in real life, and we use it in our labs.
Jam:Yeah. So whether you're Trying to keep your coffee warm, or you're trying to
Melissa:Send your kid to school with soup. Yeah.
Jam:Send your kid to school with soup, or you have miscommunication with the guy that you commute with. Whatever situation you find yourself in, Vacuums work.
Melissa:That is so funny that that had happened to you. But it is a little bit hard to wrap your mind around the fact that the energy disperses Mhmm. Based on the contact of the molecules with each other. So but you described that really well, I think. So that was good.
Jam:It's kinda interesting too because the solution's Funny because it's like somebody was seeing something there somewhere, and they're like, what if what if instead of putting, like you remember how the some things had, like, Styrofoam or some sort Foam Mhmm. In them to insulate them for a long time?
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:I mean, that's still true. Like, a lot of coolers, that you buy actually just have Styrofoam.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:But what if, like, someone was sitting there, and they were like, well, what if the solution is just to have nothing? And someone's like, that wouldn't work. And I like, no. No. No.
Jam:I mean, nothing. Not like air, but nothing. It's such a funny idea to think about who would have come up with that.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:It probably was a lot less Simple than that, but
Melissa:But maybe not. Nothing to tran no molecules to transfer the heat. No heat's going anywhere. Yeah. They solved it.
Melissa:They did it.
Jam:What if we didn't know anything like that until we went to space? We, like, experienced the vacuum.
Melissa:Yeah. We should look up the Beginnings. The origins of the vacuum insulation.
Jam:Origins of species, if you will.
Melissa:There's a science historian out there, and you wanna Hit us up. Let us know.
Jam:Yes. Please do.
Melissa:We'd love to. And there's a lot of complexities to heat beyond just that and the transfer of heat and energy, but That's really and truly how vacuum class works, so you got it.
Jam:Man, that's cool.
Melissa:Alright. You ready to wrap it up and share some about your week this week?
Jam:I'm totally ready except for the fact that I don't know what happened this week.
Melissa:Well, while you think, I'm gonna say that this is not my big thing, but one small thing that I am excited about. Uh-huh. And you guys have already seen it because I posted it on Instagram immediately Is a listener made this chemistry for your life koozie out of leather?
Jam:Oh, yeah.
Melissa:And I am so excited about it.
Jam:It's so cool, And I hate koozies. And so that's the only koozie that I think is cool.
Melissa:Yes. Jam really does hate koozies, and I really do constantly have a koozie with me just all the time. And he thinks, oh, my koozies, you know, are kinda trashy, but this one is handmade out of leather. Yeah. It's not trashy.
Melissa:It's
Jam:definitely not trashy.
Melissa:And it has the chemistry for your life logo on it, which was 3 d printed and then stamped into the leather, which is amazing.
Jam:Yeah. It's pretty dang cool.
Melissa:So if you're wanting to see that super awesome Cuziko, check out.
Jam:Our post from a couple weeks ago about it? Mhmm. Yeah. Okay. Something good happened in my week.
Jam:My wife and I, like, technology. I'm the In charge of technology in our house for the most part.
Melissa:And In our podcast?
Jam:In our podcast. My wife likes to call me her technological husband. When I'm in that mode, I kinda, like, put on that hat. So, she was pretty consistently annoyed about a few things technological wise. One of them being that we both require both the sound of a fan and the feeling of a fan when we sleep.
Jam:So it's helpful because air circulation, and then also hearing, the fan sound just kinda helps you go to sleep and drowns out other sounds outside and stuff like that. But we both have fans on our nightstands pointing at us, and it's kind of annoying to if you're already in bed especially, turn them off and on. It's like that. And the way our outlets work is just a little bit annoying with the way the cables go, to plug in, and it's kinda nice to hide cables. So this week, I bought, a few smart outlets online on Amazon.
Melissa:Okay.
Jam:And now we can just ask our Google, And it'll turn on our fans.
Melissa:Well turn off our fans.
Jam:We just leave them on the the full blast position. Mhmm. And then both of our fans can be turned off and on at the same time. Wow. The thing that's kinda annoying is, like, if I get up first, I leave my fan on so it doesn't like, the sound Turning off doesn't wake my wife up.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:So then whenever she's getting ready to fight that, she has to go around the bed, turn off my fan, and turn on her turn off her fan too. So it's, like, Just annoying enough every single day for whatever one of us gets up later to turn off the other person's fan. So it is kinda nice for them to be synced up. So it's super lazy, but it's also just a little bit cool.
Melissa:It is nice when you have something exactly the way you want it. So Mhmm. Like, I really Like having a small towel in my shower to wipe my eyes dry if any water or anything gets in them. Mhmm. And I was at my parents' house recently and didn't have that, and I was like, this is Such a small thing, but it significantly improves my day.
Melissa:Yeah. It's so small, But it really changes how annoyed I am. Mhmm. And then you can just fix it. Yeah.
Melissa:So I understand the It's a little bit extra Yeah. But it's also a little bit nice.
Jam:Yeah. And it helps to, like, have them in a few places. Like, we have 1 on a lamp that's across the room. It's not having to go over there to turn it off or on or also not having to risk walking across the room in the dark Yeah. Is very helpful.
Jam:So, again, just ask Google to turn it on We're off. It's so nice.
Melissa:Well, actually, I was gonna talk about how I've had so much fun with my mom lately. So, you know, I've mentioned that she's been Sick or whatever. Mhmm. And so because of that, we've had a lot of doctor visits, trips, and stuff, and it has been actually really fun.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So we listened to Dolly Parton's America together. Uh-huh. And that was really fun. Then we listened to Dolly songs and sang in the car Uh-huh. And had, like, 8 hours together, which we normally would not have that Uh-huh.
Melissa:Unless we were on vacation, like, the one time we've been on.
Jam:Interesting how how you don't see Relatives like that Yeah. In that same way?
Melissa:We've only ever done that been together that long in my adult life when we went to Europe together. Uh-huh. That was a huge deal.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Or, I've been reading this book when she's, you know, sick and kinda not feeling great.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:I've been reading This comedian's book, David Sedaris
Jam:Oh, I love that.
Melissa:To her. Yeah. So she's dying of laughter from some of that stuff Or she's like, oh, I can't laugh that hard. You know? So
Jam:Yeah. The best medicine unless you laugh too hard.
Melissa:She's been having a I think we've just been having a lot of fun together with that stuff. And I think that's been a nice silver lining of I would have no other reason to spend Several days of the week with my mom, 4 or 5 days in a row Yeah. If it weren't, you know, that she's sick, but it's been actually really, really fun. So That's just been a nice silver lining among crazy life right now. So
Jam:That's awesome. That's that's definitely a good silver lining.
Melissa:It is. It's so silver lining. Well, thanks for coming to my office today and for bringing your vacuum flask. I didn't even tell him. They're not called vacuum flasks.
Melissa:That's a different piece of equipment. We're bringing our vacuum insulated water bottles Mhmm. Mhmm. For bringing those. I didn't even tell Jim to bring those.
Melissa:He didn't know that was a topic. He just really relies heavily on them.
Jam:So I do very much so.
Melissa:And for learning all about how vacuum insulation works.
Jam:Anytime.
Melissa:And thanks to you guys for listening and for being with us in that way today. It's been really fun.
Jam:It has. Absolutely. Melissa and I have a lot of ideas for topics of chemistry and everyday life, but wanna hear from you. If you have questions or ideas, you can reach out to us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at Kim for your life. That's Kim, f o r, your life, to share thoughts and ideas.
Jam:If you enjoy this podcast, you can subscribe on your favorite podcast app. And if you really like it, you can write a review on Apple Podcasts. That helps us to be able to share chemistry with even more people. If you like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the costs of making it, go to kodashfi.com /chem for your life, and donate the cost of a cup of coffee.
Melissa: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. Jam Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to a song and s Flint, who reviewed this episode.
