Bonus: How does numbing cream work? (and other questions)
Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist.
Jam:And I'm not.
Melissa:And welcome to chemistry free life.
Jam:The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of Your everyday life.
Melissa:Bonus edition. That was nice. We were perfectly in sync. Mhmm. We didn't even try.
Jam:Yeah. We didn't. I mean, I did try a little bit. I did kinda wait Because that'd be more fun.
Melissa:Oh, you did try? Mhmm.
Jam:Oh,
Melissa:I didn't try. I was just trying to catch you. It only
Jam:takes 1 of us to try.
Melissa:Not like the song It Takes 2.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Right. That.
Jam:Yeah. It just takes 1.
Melissa:It just takes 1. Okay. So if you haven't been to one of our bonus episodes Before, if you haven't listened to or watched one of them before, in these episodes, we just take a bunch of questions from our awesome community of listeners, And we, try to answer them, but sometimes we just respond to them because we don't have all the answers.
Jam:Yeah. A 100%. And Melissa's usual MO with this because this is like a bonus episode. You guys don't have time to just do a bunch of research about every single question that's asked. So it's chemistry off the cuff, what she thinks off the cuff without doing a ton of research, or it's like this question Needs research to answer it, and it will become a full blown episode.
Jam:And so it's kind of asset fit into one of those categories, basically.
Melissa:There was one that I did very brief googling to make sure it was correct.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:But for the most part, that doesn't happen.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Alright. So and we also try to prioritize questions from our Community of patrons or chem community of patrons so that we can, you know, hear their voices and see what they wanna learn about as well.
Jam:Sometimes we get questions from all corners of the Internet. You know? It's like something through the website, something through Instagram, something through Facebook, something through Twitter or whatever. So if you have a lot of chemistry questions and you wanna make sure we see them here than they get on the podcast, go to patreon.com/chem for your life. Hop on in there.
Jam:You're our community patrons. You can ask the questions you want, and we will definitely see them.
Melissa:Definitely. Sometimes a week late or whatever, but we do see them. Yeah.
Jam:We'll get it. Okay. You ready for the 1st question?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:This is from one of our faves, Avishai. Always has great questions.
Melissa:He's a patron.
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:And he is also a biologist, I think.
Jam:Sounds right.
Melissa:Some kind of scientist for sure.
Jam:Yeah. Biology is the
Melissa:the one
Jam:with all the rocks. Right? Here's the episode I said. I love baking. One of my most Baked pies is lemon meringue pie.
Jam:Sounds super good. To burn the meringue, I burn it in the oven at 250 degrees Celsius to 260 degrees Celsius for 2 to 4 minutes. In many cases, my meringue shrinks afterward, which is quite annoying. So I started to think, what is meringue, and why would it shrink? Is it a polymer?
Jam:But If so, why would it shrink still? I know some polymers shrink when heated like collagen. I also found papers on Google Scholar when I searched why meringue Why meringue shrinks? Why does the meringue shrink? Here's the question part now, I guess.
Jam:Shrink when moved from high to lesser pressure. I'll look into it more when I have time, and maybe update you guys on my findings.
Melissa:Okay. Didn't do any research on this, but my initial thought when I heard shrinks when it moves from high to low temperature is car tires. Mhmm. So if you've ever gotten a flat tire in the winter, you know that when And we did a whole episode on this that when things get colder, the energy moves around. The energy in the molecules move around Less.
Melissa:There's less energy in molecules, so they're able to move less. So a lot of times they will physically take up less space. So a good way to visualize this is if you take a balloon and put it in the fridge or freezer, it'll get kinda like, you know, wrinkly and Small. And then when you take it back up and it heats back up, it'll come back to its normal size. So I wonder if that same thing is happening here with the meringue is if when it's in the oven, the air that's in that's whipped into the meringue.
Melissa:Although I don't know a ton about the chemistry meringue, but I know that there's air in it. If when then you take it out of the oven, the cooling effect causes those the molecules to move around less, and so it just like the air is literally Taking up less space, and that's why it shrinks. But I don't have a good solution to how you'd keep that from happening. Right. Unless maybe you just need a firmer structure in the meringue to keep it from shrinking.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Because I don't think meringue always shrinks, which makes me think that they're the polymer doesn't inherently shrink like some do.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So I think it's something in Either it's the structure is not set enough or I think it's just getting deflated because the Air is cooling down. That's my guess.
Jam:Interesting. What if it doesn't actually shrink, but it just looks like it shrinks? Like a Meringue Mirage of sorts.
Melissa:Were you thinking about that dumb joke this the whole time?
Jam:Not the whole time. Just, like, halfway through.
Melissa:You know I didn't even know what to say to that. No.
Jam:That was a real answer. Like, you really can do it. It's like, actually, yeah, it's weird. Think about the waves and the energy and the the the photons and, like, it just looks smaller, but it's not.
Melissa:No. I don't know if we heard this response.
Jam:Okay. Alright. Sorry.
Melissa:We did do an episode on Mirages once too, though, also.
Jam:Yes. It So It was super interesting. And this is still an interesting question, Avishai. I just have 0 to contribute, so that's why this that's why the joke comes to mind, because I have no hypotheses whatsoever. If I had a real one note, that's what I would that's what I'd bring to the table.
Jam:This next one's from Christina g. This is a addendum. She says, Hi, all. I wanted to add to the our shoes chemistry discussion. That was a couple episodes ago.
Jam:A couple, q and hours ago. There are lots of running shoes in the market now with carbon plates in their soles that allegedly give runners an extra speed boost by reducing the amount of work the runner's feet and ankles have to do. Yay, Physics.
Melissa:Like, yay chemistry, but yay physics.
Jam:Most elite marathoners use these shoes and swear by them. My question would be, Can you think of another type of material similar to a carbon plate that could return more energy and make runners run even faster?
Melissa:Listen. First of all, we don't yay physics here. I'm just kidding. But I will say I'm not great at physics. And so my first question is, how do the carbon plates actually do that?
Melissa:So I feel like I can't even answer the 2nd question until I really stand if if and how the carbon plates are actually working.
Jam:I watched a video about this. And
Melissa:You have?
Jam:About the carbon plates because they're they're kinda controversial, and there was specific shoe, the one of the earliest ones that had this, was, like, disqualified from certain things because it was the question of, was this an unfair advantage?
Melissa:Legal? Like Yes.
Jam:But, basically, I I don't understand the physics great, but the layperson's way this was put in the video I watched was simply that, like, It has the ability to flex when you're stepping, but it has a really good spring back. So it wants to get back to its
Melissa:first fit. Aiding you in your
Jam:Yes. It's aiding you in your, like, the the pep in your step, the spring, the I don't know what else you'd call it. And so people have have been able to measure and effect. 1 runner wears 1 type of shoes, wears these other shoes, and there is a measurable benefit. Woah.
Jam:I don't know if it's every runner. I don't know if it's just, like Like, I'm wondering, for instance, if you're doing like, she's referencing marathon runners.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:The thing I watched didn't talk about them. It talked about short distances. I'm wondering if maybe some of the benefits start to, like, get muddier the longer your distances or if it gets better. Better.
Melissa:Yeah. I was wondering if, like, long term, you're conserving energy and so you're able to go longer distance Yeah. Or something. Yeah. Fascinating.
Jam:But does that kinda make sense? Like, Just without having the details in front of us, they're like, if it's spring year and, like, what's the, like, Bounce back to its main shape.
Melissa:I think it makes sense that it's helping your foot actually do the moving. Yeah. So that's why it's literally when she says less Work, I'm guessing she means, like, literally less energy. You know? It's like you're not literally working.
Melissa:You're not using energy or putting energy in as much.
Jam:But I think the conversation is created around these shoes, and I'd love to see a more updated thing now because I think there's a lot more models of shoes with this in them, some version of it. The question is, like, sort of when the is it cheating? I mean, like, we're already using a lot of these synthetic materials in our shoes for a bunch of reasons. Why is it like, aren't I faster when I wear shoes and when I'm barefoot anyway? So it's already giving me advantage
Melissa:Yeah. Interesting.
Jam:Running outside or running on a track or whatever to to use it. So what is it about specifically this Shank, carbon shank kind of thing. That's what you call it in in, like, dress shoes and boots. What is it about that that is A bridge too far for us, I guess. I don't know.
Melissa:Sorry. I'm yawning. I woke up at 6 AM this morning and was like, After staying up kind of late last night and was suddenly thinking of all the stuff I had to do for work, and so I got up really early. Uh-huh. And now I feel like I haven't noticed this all day, but all of a sudden, Yawning, like, every few minutes Yeah.
Melissa:And so I'm self conscious about it. So, well, the answer that I have is, like, I have no idea. I'm I guess, I'm not a chemist, so I don't have just like a whole, like, network of or, like, one of those Rolodex, you know, of materials in my brain.
Jam:When you were made that silence, immediately the word out.
Melissa:But I could think of, like, how it could be A polymer could very easily be adapted. And I'm guessing the carbon plate is if it's a carbon plate, if it's only carbon, then its arrangement of carbon Molecules may be in, like, a certain formation that if you found a different way to arrange them, it could be more effective. Mhmm. But Mhmm. I don't have anything good, but this is a really great conversation starter.
Jam:Yeah. That is.
Melissa:And Christina's on our Patreon, so thanks, Christina.
Jam:Yes. Thanks, Christina. I need to go see to figure out what I watched and remind myself about it and see if there's some sort of update too.
Melissa:And maybe you could post it on our Patreon to to respond to her.
Jam:Yeah. That's a great idea. Who knows? The the kinds of things, like, it might just been recommended to me from some channel on YouTube. We're talking about this earlier, like, the algorithms.
Jam:And then it's hard to find the thing you watch. Like, I watched this, but Yeah. I don't know. I mean, YouTube just thought I'd like it, and I did, I guess. So
Melissa:And I have 3 TikToks, 2 Instagrams and 3 YouTube channels, and so I never know Yeah. What what platform and which of my, like, accounts I was under when I was watching things. So and my I already have ADHD. So my brain is disorganized as it is, and I'm not doing it any favors.
Jam:Yeah. The and the just the our world and the Internet and all of it is not doing any favors.
Melissa:You have
Jam:this many accounts and just know around it. Sorry. No way to follow-up.
Melissa:Of them are good to teach people things, so there's that at least.
Jam:Okay. This is oh, this looks interesting.
Melissa:Yeah. I love this question. So they saw it on Instagram.
Jam:Chelsea, one of our patrons, sent this through Instagram. Use chemistry to explain how element bending works, Like element bending in Avatar in the last episode.
Melissa:Okay. I've been thinking about this all afternoon Nice. Ever since I saw the question. I think this is the funniest and maybe one of the hardest questions. So here's what I I started with water because that one to me is like the way that the chemistry must work on that is you must be able to control the hydrogen bonds between the water because she can, like, move it, but also freeze it sometimes.
Melissa:Right?
Jam:Right. Yep.
Melissa:So I think she's controlling the intermolecular forces. She is Katara, the main character. Right. That's a waterbender. So that was my thought is being able to bend water means you can control hydrogen bonding and molecular forces.
Melissa:Yeah. And then there's an airbender, and I think what they're actually doing is being able to create pockets of lower on higher pressure. You know? Like, They must be able to move the molecules out of the way. I mean, all of it is moving molecules, but they must specifically be able to Move molecules to make wind.
Melissa:Right? We have a whole episode about wind. And, actually, we have episodes about snowflakes and wind and what fire is Mhmm. And nothing about the earth. That's the one I got symptom.
Melissa:But so I thought maybe the airbenders are moving molecules out of the way to create empty space that Then the wind will flow into or maybe they can just direct the molecules in the air to move to certain directions overall, and that's how They can create the air moving. Yeah. That was the best thing I could come up with that. Then Firebending, I thought, you know, when on our episode on, like, what fire even is and also with, like, candles and stuff is you kind of have to have this initial reaction to get it started
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Put energy in, but then it kinda keeps going. Yeah. And so I think they have the ability to Start that reaction. They must be able to somehow be able to put energy in, like, the same way you put energy in when you're lighting a match. Yeah.
Melissa:And that starts a reaction, and that then that reaction makes the fire happen, and then the fire will just continue So Yeah. Okay. So I I found chemical reasons for all of those, but I couldn't figure out oh, also I should say, Air bending, water bending, and fire bending are not real. And this is a cartoon for children that somehow really well translates into adult life And, also, is a fun theoretical game to play of what's the chemistry behind this fake phenomena. So that Just I really wanna say that.
Melissa:I don't want anyone to think that I think that you can actually use chemistry to do those things.
Jam:Good point. Somebody some of these people out there. Yeah.
Melissa:I really genuinely could not come up with a good thing for earthbending though because, like, Toph can feel things through the earth, and that makes sense to me. It's like she's just super sensitive to energy moving.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:But then Then she uses energy to be able to move the earth too?
Jam:Right. I think if it was, like, just Like, because obviously, metal bending is like a subsect of earthbending. Yeah. So it's just metal bending, though. You can make a lot of, like, oh, magnetic polarity arguments if you wanted to.
Jam:But she Magnetic for sure. Yeah. But it's like the like, if they had the ability to suddenly make, like, a A negative poll and, you know, whatever. But, like, for the rest of the Earth, other dirts, but they're like, well, I don't know either. Like, It's so broad.
Melissa:Yeah. I think it's just like, oh, you have power over energy, which I guess that's kind of all of them in a way, but it's like You have the ability to direct to create and direct energy into the ground specifically and use that to move the earth.
Jam:This is still, like, so far out that it's, like, fiction. But what if you could say that Earth. You you specifically talked about with Katara, with Mhmm. Water bending, the hydrogen bonds. What if, like, Deep down, pretend we're in their in their universe.
Jam:We start looking into it, and it really is that It is at the elemental level of, like, an element on the parent table, and that's the common theme. So what if Tof is like hers'
Melissa:Quartz.
Jam:Yeah. Or
Melissa:I guess it'd be silicon.
Jam:Right. Yeah. Something, like, one of the most common things in
Melissa:Yeah. And
Jam:then Qataris is hydrogen and
Melissa:Well, it'd have to be hydrogen and oxygen.
Jam:So she they have to be both present, and then she can do it.
Melissa:Yeah. They have to be bonded together. Yeah. Yeah. Like, maybe they're just in tune.
Melissa:But then with fire, there's not, like, an element on the periodic table that fire There's not. It's carbon, hydrogen, oxygen.
Jam:Man, they shoulda had a fire one
Melissa:on there. I think the The best thing I could think is yeah. I think what's hard about the Earth is The
Jam:oxygen would definitely have to be present because it has to ignite.
Melissa:Oxygen's in all of them. Right. Maybe that's something. Anyway, I thought this was a good this is good a good question, and it was fun. And it definitely got me thinking About molecules in chemistry Yeah.
Melissa:In a fun new way. So thanks for that, Chelsea. Damn. I literally laughed out out loud when I read that question, and I was like, oh, and thought about it all while I was eating my lunch.
Jam:I love it too. It's a great one. This next one is from Julian e on Instagram. Why does water form on the outside of a cold glass on a warm day?
Melissa:Okay. So for this one, this is like All about the different phases of matter. So, you know, if you have, molecules of water, they can be in the solid form, ice. In the liquid form, water, or in the gaseous form, in the air. That's water vapor.
Melissa:And there is water in the air air all the time. So, like, if you've heard the humidity point or whatever, there's water in the air. And it's just warm enough. There's enough energy in it that it can move around and function like a gas You know? It's it's in the gaseous phase.
Melissa:But if it loses enough of that energy, it'll start to take up less and less and less and less space until it starts to get close to other water molecules. And as it continues to cool down, it will eventually not have enough energy to be in the gaseous state anymore, and it'll become a liquid. And that's condensation. So water forms on the outside of your glass because literally water that's already in the air around you is losing energy as it comes into contact with that colder space or there's less energy in that colder space. So that's why.
Melissa:That's a good question.
Jam:It's a good question. I remember one time, one of our friends, IRL Mhmm. Was like, how does the water Inside the glass end up getting through and becoming coming on the outside of the glass. And I was like, it's our friend Sam. And Oh.
Jam:Thinking that that's what was happening. You know? And I was like, I give him a slip like this, and he goes, Les, It's actually moisture in the and he's, like, we're sort of realizing it. Yeah. And it, like, blew his mind.
Jam:I was like, I just got to watch it happen, Where he just realized, like, his theory with combined with the knowledge from the podcast Yeah. They've been learning Didn't make sense, but something else made a lot more sense. And I he was just like,
Melissa:woah. That is so exciting.
Jam:He said, like, that cool, like, chemistry
Melissa:My I wish I had been there for that.
Jam:Yeah. I I just remembered about that. It's been a while, but I've forgotten about that completely.
Melissa:And it doesn't just happen on cold glasses. You know? Like, I Keep, I have chocolate chips that I keep in the freezer, but my favorite snack right now is a little tiny bowl ramekin of cold chocolate chips. But I have them in Stasher bags, and so I just pulled the whole Stasher bag out and never put it in a ramekin because they were all dirty. And then when I put it up Where the bag had been sitting on my leg was just a damp spot because it did condensation on the outside of the silicone bag, And then that got on my leg.
Melissa:Got it. So it's not just cold glasses. Yeah. Condensation. Not just for cold glasses anymore.
Jam:Or hot days.
Melissa:Or hot days. Yeah.
Jam:Business ones from It
Melissa:was a a
Jam:hot day. Kevin r on Instagram asked this. How do water filters work? What can they not filter out? Sometimes they don't taste good.
Melissa:Okay, Kevin. So I'm not gonna answer this because Next week's episode, we talk about water filters, specifically one kind. I think different water filters are able to filter out different things depending on what they're made of. So it kinda depends on what kind of filter you have. I don't always think that they the one we have is a carbon, like, activated carbon granules of that, and I think it tastes fine.
Melissa:I don't taste it. Yeah. Although maybe I'm just used to it because I have some friends from Germany who came for a conference, and they were like, the chlorine in the water here is so strong. I can't drink it. I can smell the I can smell the chlorine while I'm taking a shower.
Melissa:Mhmm. And I was like, I don't even notice the chlorine Unless I have a water bottle that's been closed with, like, half the water filled in there. Uh-huh. Because then chlorine is a gas in its natural state.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So then it It's off guessing. And sometimes when I open it, I can smell the chlorine after it's been, like, sitting for days. It's embarrassing that that happens, but, especially if it's like yeah. Just been what time I thought I lost the water bottle? This is a dumb story, but it's this is a q and r, so this is what you're gonna get.
Melissa:Uh-huh. One time I thought I lost a water bottle, and then we're going camping. So we bought a New water bottle because I have a rule that I don't buy new cups unless I lose 1 or bottles because you don't need that many. And for them to really be good to the environment, you can't just be buying them all the time.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:And so we bought a new one, and then we came home, and then I went kickboxing after, like, A while. I mean, I hadn't been for a while. We hadn't seen that water bottle probably in a month. I'd been out of town. I'd been sick.
Melissa:Then we went camping. Then I came home, went kickboxing, and I found the water bottle Uh-huh. In the kickboxing bag that had been lost. I was very embarrassed. I was like, how long?
Melissa:We both were like, this is over. We've lost it. It's gone. We don't know where it went. No.
Melissa:I just hadn't been to my kickboxing class in that long, And I paid for it that whole time.
Jam:Yep. But when
Melissa:I opened that water bottle, it smelled so strongly of chlorine because it just, like, off gases.
Jam:Did did you tell me I can't remember. And this is, like, one of those we should probably just go Figure it out. Whatever. I thought that it wasn't actually chlorine that's in the water.
Melissa:No. I think there's chlorine in the water. I think that's pool smell doesn't actually smell like chlorine.
Jam:Okay. Maybe think of something else then.
Melissa:Maybe. I could be wrong. That's true. What I thought that that smell was.
Jam:I thought that you had told me that That maybe there is, but that's probably not what is in our water that we might be able to smell or taste. Also, isn't there fluorine in our
Melissa:There is fluorine, and those probably do smell similarly because they're similar properties on the periodic table. That could be true. All I know is I went to this conference, and this guy from Germany was like, I can smell chlorine Yeah. So strongly in your water.
Jam:They're probably like, we have this, like, amazing, like, You know, mountain spring
Melissa:Spring water. Water.
Jam:Yeah. From all of the snow melting that's also pure and great. Yeah. Yeah. It makes us live forever, and it's like that.
Jam:And we're like, yeah. Sorry. But you got a bunch of brown rivers over here. You know?
Melissa:Well, yeah, a bunch of rivers with PFAS in them as we're finding out.
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:Well, I could be wrong, and I just wanna say that I could be wrong for sure, and I wouldn't be surprised if I am. One that I did have is we have PVC pipes, which I do think are made with chlorine. I wonder Ah. Anyway
Jam:Okay. Interesting.
Melissa:But I could be wrong. And the big thing about our podcast is that I am open to being wrong even though I'm an expert. And if I find out I'm wrong, then I'll be happy to change.
Jam:And I'm often wrong because I don't know what I'm talking about anyway, so I'm even more apologetic. This next one's from Michael r. Hopefully, it's Michael Richards, the Seinfeld actor. Tell us where chemistry and physics meet, please.
Melissa:This is such an interesting question. I, Well, I made a joke to my friend that was with me, when I first saw that, and I said, probably in the trash can because I hate physics. But just kidding. We don't hate on science here. It's just not my cup of tea.
Melissa:But there is a real answer and that I could think of, and that is So there's a physical chemistry class that I had to take, and there's 2 main parts in the physical chemistry class. And one is Literally looking at how lights and particles move. And how everything moves is physics. Right? So even us moving right now, and we're made up of a bunch of electrons and atoms.
Melissa:You know? There's physics in that. And, you know, also chemistry looks a lot of times at energy, like light, and light can act as a wave or a particle. So there's, like, physics all in that. It's crazy.
Melissa:And then there's also the physics of, like, energy transfer, thermodynamics. So I in my physical chemistry class, the second half is thermodynamics. But actually, my husband took a very similar class with just without the chemistry foundation for his mechanical engineering to understand the transfer of heat. And so I think that's also a physics meets chemistry. It's like energy and how things move because energy is being put into them is all about chemistry.
Melissa:Tree. You know? Right. So, like, things heating up and cooling down, that's all chemistry. But I do think that thermodynamic level can also be considered like a physical science.
Melissa:Like the physical not a physical science, I guess, but a physics approach as well. I think it's all gray because everything is Everything is made up of atoms.
Jam:Right. And, yeah, and our, like, compartmentalizing of science is sort of to help us Specialized, but it's obviously, like, all happening.
Melissa:Yeah. Yeah. Somebody else responded to me posting this question on Instagram and said, Well, my answer is always, like, everything in life is biology and everything in biology is chemistry and Because it's all made up of atoms and, you know, like, went on this thing. But I was like, but, really, I think hers ended with math, but I'm like, it kind of it's like should somehow, like, Circle back. Like, everything in biology is chemistry.
Melissa:Everything in chemistry is physics. Everything in physics applies to life, and life is biology. You know? So it's, like, all circular. You know?
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yep. That's a good point.
Melissa:That was a good question.
Jam:I guess there's things that aren't biology that are chemistry and physics.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:That's kinda tough. Anyway yeah. That's good question. Okay. I see the word coffee.
Jam:This is exciting. This question's from Sandra b. How is freeze dried coffee made?
Melissa:This this question's kind of a juke because I think that this is worth a whole episode on how freeze dried things are made at all. Because have you seen freeze dried things?
Jam:Yes. We we've had, like, you know, freeze dried fruit and stuff like that for
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And freeze dried, like, candy, have you seen how it gets bigger and weird?
Jam:No. Fruit gets smaller, but it's kind of like we expect, I guess. But Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:So freeze dried candy, it's like it. You should go to our local coffee shop and see the freeze dried Skittles, like, break and have, like, a little looks like a little Skittle sandwich. And, like, peach rings, people will do, like, you know, videos where they're, like, eating a bunch of different like, they're trying all these different things. And then And, like, freeze dried candy, like, expands and gets weird. So I think we are gonna have to do a whole episode on it.
Melissa:I started to do a quick Google search, and then I was like, nope. This isn't gonna be real.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So here's a here's a picture for jam. And for those of you who are listening can Google, Like freeze dried Skittles. See how they, like, bust open?
Jam:That's crazy.
Melissa:And then, like, freeze dried I think, like, peach rings. They get, like, Just, like, large. Like, here's Jolly Ranchers who freeze dry, and they are, like, puffy. You can get them at our local coffee shop.
Jam:Interesting. I didn't know that.
Melissa:Maybe we should do a Patreon exclusive where we eat freeze dried candy taste test.
Jam:That's a great idea.
Melissa:Freeze dried candy taste test.
Jam:I would love that. For science.
Melissa:For it's, yeah, it's for science. That's For sure.
Jam:Very interesting.
Melissa:So that's, That that I've decided is gonna be a whole episode.
Jam:Okay. Cool.
Melissa:Alright. Great. This next one from Bailey, I just wanted to share this fun fact.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Baylee messaged and said, if you ever do a Botox episode 2, you should talk about how it affects your mirror neurons and therefore lowers your capacity for empathy. And I was like, what? So I did quickly look that up, and there does seem to be 1 study. I did not have time to look into the like, you know, if it's how well the study's done or anything, but there does seem to be 1 study where people's ability to feel certain emotions were lowered when they had had Botox because their muscles were paralyzed.
Jam:Woah. I know. That is Crazy.
Melissa:But I do have a friend who gets Botox, and she's very empathetic. So maybe it's just for a little while temporarily.
Jam:Yeah. Or maybe she already had a lot more than Person. So she had some she could lose. But
Melissa:Yeah. Yeah. Like, if you're you know, that people will say, like, oh, I'm an empath. Maybe empaths need to get Botox that it doesn't affect their daily life as much. Yes.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Maybe so. The next question is from, I'm sorry if I pronounce it incorrectly. Nenami. Nenami Tee from Thailand. I'm currently a high school student, so I have a question.
Jam:How does numbing cream actually work chemically? About how numbing cream reduces sensitivity to pain.
Melissa:Okay. So different numbing creams work differently, but we did do an episode on capsaicin.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And we talked about how it would trigger your heat, like the receptors that Your nerve receptors that, you know, send pain also feel heat, and so it triggers your heat response, which inhibits your pain receptors. But it was a long time ago we did that, so you should circle back and listen to the capsaicin episode.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But, essentially, I think numbing cream in general works by Activating those nerves in a way that they can't be activated by pain anymore. Mhmm. Or I think they Like, if something's truly, completely numb, like, if you go, I don't know, the doctor and get something numb because you're gonna have surgery, I think it might be, like, be like paralyzing? That one, I don't know. How it totally inactivates your nerves, I don't know.
Jam:Right. Instead of just kinda reducing them. Yeah.
Melissa:The ones that I'm just talking about are, like, know, like icy hot or like menthol creams. Those that's how those work.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.
Melissa:A good question. Yeah. Okay. So I think we're gonna wrap this up with I've been Really enjoying reading reviews or emails that people send in that, just to thank you all as listeners for everything that you do to keep our show going. And so this was a nice one from Rachel r.
Melissa:She left it on Apple review and, also sent us a message on Patreon. So Thanks for joining our Patreon team. Rachel will give you a shout out at an upcoming episode soon, but here's what Rachel said. I think I found your podcast while I was on a search for phenomenon sources as a teacher. So Rachel told me she's a 54 year old 2nd year teacher.
Melissa:And, of course, your show is a good source, but also it's just so awesome, and I love it so much. No shade jam. I love your role and how you fulfill it too.
Jam:None taken.
Melissa:But, Melissa, your explanations, your analogies. At first, I would scroll through the episodes and say to myself, I know about that and not listen. But then I realized that no matter what the topic is, I'll get really cool insights whether different perspective, facts I didn't know, ideas about how to get students thinking. Bottom line, thank you so much for making this podcast. It totally rocks.
Melissa:I thought that was really sweet.
Jam:That's awesome.
Melissa:I do think also Rachel accidentally called me Kate at first, and I just have to say that I feel like I kinda look like a Kate. It's kind of nice.
Jam:We're talking about that because it was like, yeah, there's always that feeling you have of, like, someone looks like a a name, or they very specifically do not Okay.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:That's all, like, based on our the people we've interacted with and what their names have been. So Yeah. Kinda funny.
Melissa:Somebody accidentally called Mason Gabe, And then they kept up that bit for the rest of the night. And then everybody who came over would comment on it, and they're like, yeah. I could see you being a Gabe. And, actually, I was like, yeah. I Can I see it too?
Jam:I can see it.
Melissa:I can see it.
Jam:Yeah. That's great. Here's another, comment that we got that was really encouraging from Ryan b on it's on YouTube. Thank you for this podcast. This episode is the very first one that I've used with my new edition of podcast investigations in my high school chemistry curriculum this year.
Jam:We listened to the Trick Candles podcast and lit both regular and trick birthday candles and had some really great, curious, excited conversations about the concepts and some Related topics. Great resource. Thanks for all you do in producing it. I'm looking forward to using about 8 more episodes throughout this year.
Melissa:Thanks. That was so cool.
Jam:Yeah. That was awesome.
Melissa:We do have, somewhere if you email, I'll send it to you, a list on Google Drive where I Started to organize the episodes by topic, but I haven't got around to it. And then someone messaged me and offered to help, and I don't know who that person was, and I lost it. Yeah. I know. It's that ADHD brain.
Melissa:So sorry about that. But
Jam:That that and the fact that we literally get messages from so many apps.
Melissa:Like So many apps.
Jam:All the things even have a searchability thing. So it's like, there's not even yeah. Don't blame yourself.
Melissa:You can get comments. You can get messages. You can get emails. You can get website submissions, which I forgot to say. Nanami and Bailey's are both messag website submission.
Jam:Nice. Nice.
Melissa:And, yeah, we just get them everywhere. So it can be hard to keep track of everything. But if that was you, let me know, and I'd be happy to to let you do that. But if you're a teacher and you wanna use a podcast in your classroom, please reach out to us because I did start that, and that's a good place for you to at least be able to start in your course. Yep.
Melissa:Awesome. Well, thanks to all of our listeners. We really, really appreciate having you write to us. Said these episodes Jam was saying as we started these episodes, they're just so fun and relaxing because it feels like we're having a conversation, and We just, like, get to be a little bit more of ourselves, a little bit less on task. You know?
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Definitely. It's a lot of fun. You guys write great questions. Some really good interesting chemistry ones. Some fun, only slightly related chemistry ones, and sometimes some that are very far outside of it, which are also so fun.
Jam:So thank you all so much. We love y'all's questions. Please don't hesitate to send those to us. If you have ideas for a full episode or a question you want on a q and r, you can reach out to us on our website at Kim for your life dotcom. That's kimforyourlife.com to share your thoughts and ideas.
Jam:If you'd like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it and get priority question asking, You can join our super cool community patrons@patreon.com/kem for your life. That's patreon.com/kem for your life, or tap the link in our show notes or in the description of the video to join that super cool community. If you're not able to do that, you can still help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app, on reading and writing your view on Apple Podcasts, or subscribing on YouTube. Dialysis to share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:And you might if you leave a nice comment or a nice review, we might end up reading it on a Q and R just like we did today. This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Coleenie and Jam Robinson, and Jam Robinson is our producer. This episode was made possible by our financial Supporters on Patreon and also the listeners who wrote in questions. It means so much to us that you're that you want to help make chemistry accessible to even more people. Those supporters are Rachel r, Latila s, Brie m, Avishai b, Brian k, Chris and Claire s, Chelsea b, Derek l, Emerson w, Hunter r, Jacob t, Christina g, Katrina h, Lynn s, Melissa p, Nicole c, Nelly s, Steven b, Shadow, Suzanne p, Timothy p, and Venus r.
Melissa:Thank you again for everything you do to make chemistry for your life happen, and an extra special thanks to Brie who often creates illustrations to go along with episodes of chemistry free life that you can see on our YouTube channel. Please thank Brie by following and supporting her at intropic.artstation.com and at McAllister Brie on Twitter.
Jam:Yay chemistry.
Melissa:Yay chemistry.
