How much urine is in an olympic size swimming pool?
Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam: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 that helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:Okay, Jim. We're gonna talk about a topic requested by 2 avid listeners.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:My brother, Anthony
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And listener and friend of the show, Sam.
Jam:Nice. Okay.
Melissa:And a long time ago, both of them asked me about the chemistry of pools and pool smells.
Jam:Okay. Smells?
Melissa:Yeah. You know, you walk in Yeah. To your local Natatorium indoor pool and you smell that Mhmm. Pool smell.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:So we're gonna talk about what that smell is.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:We're gonna talk about what pee has to do with anything.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:We're gonna talk about what artificial sweetener has to do with anything.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Surprising guest show guest appearance on this episode.
Jam:Yeah. Seriously.
Melissa:And we're gonna talk about how much pee is in Olympic swimming pools because it's the Olympics right now.
Jam:And And pee is most made up of the chemical element, like, periodic table of urine. Right?
Melissa:No. Don't confuse people. There is no chemical element of urine. But, yes, we're when I say p, I mean urine.
Jam:Okay. Got it. Got it.
Melissa:Okay. So let's get into it.
Jam:Sounds good.
Melissa:So that smell that you often associate with a swimming pool, I think a lot of people think it's chlorine.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:And while it does have some chlorine gas in it, likely, That smell is not chlorine smell.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Instead, what you're smelling is a result of what they use to disinfect the pool mixed with other things
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Called disinfectant byproducts.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So pools usually you know this because you worked at a pool store.
Jam:Yes. I did years ago, but yes.
Melissa:Pools are generally disinfected with some form of chlorine.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Chlorine gas is used a lot less often now because it is dangerous.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But I do think sometimes they use stabilized, quote, unquote, elemental, quote, unquote, chlorine, where it's like chlorine tablets, but it's not really Pure chlorine because that's a gas.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:And they use sodium hypochlorite, which is basically just liquid bleach
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Or calcium hypochlorite. These all do the same thing.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:They all all react with water to create hypochlorous acid.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And that acid is what kills the stuff we don't want in our pool.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:Is that
Jam:know what to kill?
Melissa:What'd you say?
Jam:How does it know what to kill?
Melissa:I think it kills mostly everything indiscriminate.
Jam:Okay. Except for us.
Melissa:Not us.
Jam:Yeah. That's that's the nice part.
Melissa:We're really big compared to the bacteria and such in our pool. So we are not impacted by that level of acid as the bacteria are.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:Does that line up with what you've learned from working at a pool store?
Jam:Yes. My understanding was pretty basic in that regard too. And it was like, we would try to determine if people had they're having problems if they had too little or too much chlorine. If they're having problems, it might be because the stuff was not getting killed very well Right. In their pool.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And so they need more. So, yeah, that that that jives with my remaining understanding from the years ago, that I worked at a full store.
Melissa:Perfect.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Well, other things can also be used to kill things in pools.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Such as UV light. We know that UV light Can do a lot of weird damage and chemical reaction. There's a whole episode on why things fade in the sun.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:Ozone can kill things, And bromine gas, which acts a lot like chlorine gas.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Did you have any of those at your pool store?
Jam:I feel like we did have bromine, and I remember it being I I remember one of my, fellow, like, employees, coworkers, or whatever saying that That used to be used way more
Melissa:Mhmm. In the
Jam:past, but isn't as often, but they still carried it for some reason. But not that people bought it, so I don't know.
Melissa:Well, here is the thing. Chlorine kills everything it can kill.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But some things Don't die with chlorine.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So a lot of times they'll use extra things such as UV light and ozone in addition to the chlorine as a 1, 2 punch to get it all.
Jam:Yeah. Got it.
Melissa:Did you have a lot of that back in your pool days?
Jam:Wait. Like, how would they use UV light? You mean, like, does that
Melissa:a filter, But I don't know for sure. I think a lot of commercial pulls do that.
Jam:Oh, have UV in the filter part. Oh, interesting.
Melissa:Think.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:That is me talking out of turn.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But I know that our friend works at a pool a swim school. Yeah. And she told me when they're starting back from coronavirus that they had a UV Yeah. Something. I see
Jam:you're saying, yeah, that is not common in home pools at all. So I almost never saw that. It'd be cartridge filters that literally are just trying to get dirt stuff
Melissa:or Okay. Okay. Okay.
Jam:Sand filters. And the all those are really just trying to get dirt and, like, things that you can almost see Yeah. And not trying to filter, any and kill anything. That's your that's the only thing we'd use for that would be the chlorine.
Melissa:You rely on the chlorine for that. Okay. Cool. So I tried to come up with an analogy for this, but all I could come up with was a chemical reaction In the lab. Uh-huh.
Melissa:But it also kinda reminds me of a witch's cauldron. I think that's a more realistic thing that people could think of.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:So the chlorine reacts with water to create a hypochlorous acid. Mhmm. But then That actually exists in equilibrium, which we've talked about before
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Where things go kind of back and 4th. They're reacting forward and then breaking down, and they're reacting and they're breaking down.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So listen to the episode about fluorine and or fluoride in your teeth for more on equilibrium.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Yeah. So that is what's happening with the chlorous hypochlorous acid. Well, then the hypochlorous acid breaks down into some further into some ions. Mhmm. And those are sort of in equilibrium.
Melissa:So you're get the hypo acid breaking down. So you've got all this stuff going on in your pool.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And all of these things that are breaking down Can also react with UV light if it's an outdoor pool
Jam:Mhmm. To
Melissa:make even more products, even more things happening. So your pool is quite literally a swirling pool of chemical reactions.
Jam:I see.
Melissa:Yeah. Like a witch's cauldron. And some of them create vapor. Chlorine gas is a vapor Yeah. That is hovering above your pool.
Melissa:Like, the little vapors on top of a witch's cauldron.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So you have so much chemical reactions going on in there. Yeah. The main thing is the hypochlorous acid kills the bacteria.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But this is a great chemistry lesson because In chemistry, if I go to the lab to make something, you mix a plus b and you get c is kind of what we put on paper most of the time. Uh-huh. But in real life, you mix a plus b and you get c plus a little a plus little b plus c might break down into d and e, and then you have to isolate the one thing that you want, and you could have Anywhere from 1 to 30 Yeah. You know, impurities or even more. Yeah.
Melissa:And so I liked that this represented the complexity of a real chemical reaction.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:And that's why we have to do purification techniques in the lab. If I'm making, For example, a medicine, and I mix a plus b together to get c Yeah. I'm gonna get a lot of other things too, and I'm gonna have to go through Fine.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:And a lot of what we do in chemistry labs, both for research and in students' labs, is learning how to purify things.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:But in our pools, we don't purify it.
Jam:Yeah. Do you
Melissa:know what we do instead?
Jam:Add more?
Melissa:We add more by jumping in ourselves.
Jam:Oh, right.
Melissa:Human beings who are covered with dirt, lotion. There's urine, perhaps other things
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Sweat, All kinds of stuff on our skin, bodies, hair. We jump into the pool. That's already a reaction
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:With all kinds of stuff going on, and we add all those other things into the pool.
Jam:Yeah. Yep.
Melissa:So instead of purifying our our reaction, our chemistry experiment in our backyard, we complicate it even further.
Jam:Right. Which is, like, the point, Obviously, to have the colon use it, but on the chemical level, it is, like, not at all how you'd want it to be if you were in a lab.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Like, this is just chaos, basically.
Melissa:It's chaos, and we're all just kind of hoping it works out
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And doesn't hurt us or anything. Mhmm. Mhmm. So when we jump into the pool, all the things on our bodies react with all the disinfectants Mhmm. And something is created that they called disinfectant byproducts.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So disinfectant byproducts is a result of the organic matter on our bodies reacting with All those different forms of chlorine, all the different steps in the chlorine breakdown to make even new molecules, chemicals show up in your pool.
Jam:Got it. Got it.
Melissa:Okay. The most abundant
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Thing that goes in pools Seems to be, especially public pools, is urine.
Jam:Yeah. Man.
Melissa:And urine reacts of chlorine to make something called trichloramine.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And that is pool smell.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So when you're smelling traditional pool smell, there may be some chlorine smell mixed into it. Yeah. But, really, a lot of what you're smelling is trichloramine
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:Urine mixing with chlorine in the pool.
Jam:I wonder if that's why my pool doesn't smell as pool y. I have I can say with a 100% honestly, I've never peed my own pool. No. That seems like Like, duh. You know?
Jam:Mhmm. If anyone has, it's probably my little baby son.
Melissa:Yes. Yeah. That's what I was thinking.
Jam:Doesn't know better. The ARPUL didn't smell super pool y to me, but I'm also around it all the time so much we used used to. I don't know.
Melissa:No. I've noticed that with some of our friends' pools that it doesn't Smell really pool y.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:And trichloramine, though, is not great for you. It can cause those red eyes.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:It can cause respiratory issues like asthma. It'll hang out as a gas above the pool. And actually, long term swimmers have Been tied to professional swimmers have a tie to asthma. There's a
Jam:link there
Melissa:that studies have shown. And it's worse in indoor pools where a lot of professional summers train than outdoor pools because there's nothing blowing it away or clearing it out.
Jam:Yeah. Right. Right.
Melissa:And a
Melissa:lot of times, UV can react with those things to maybe break them down even further. But if you're inside, you don't have the same amount of UV. Yeah. Yeah. So That is a bad thing that comes from peeing in the pool.
Melissa:Yeah. But, apparently, this is very common. I have a weird thing where I Cannot pee anywhere but the toilet.
Jam:Doesn't seem that weird, but
Melissa:I have tried to pee in the ocean, and I, Like, cannot do it. Uh-huh. Maybe this is a little too TMI.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But what is amazing to me is there are researchers who study Pool safety, and they have found that there is a lot of urine in pools. Uh-huh. And the amount of urine in pools is hard to study, obviously, because it reacts.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So it doesn't just stay there as urine. The thing that also reacts usually of the urine, I believe, is called urea. Uh-huh. That's what reacts with the chlorine. So
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But it's hard to study. So What they do this is insane to me.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:The amount of pee is approximated by studying the amount of a specific artificial sweetener.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Because artificial sweeteners are designed to pass through our body undigested. Right. Remember that episode?
Jam:I do.
Melissa:You can go back and listen. And, actually, I did on a q and r clarify a little bit, but the basic idea that they pass through your body undigested Did
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Means that artificial sweeteners are in our pools Right. If we're urinating in them.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So these researchers study the amount of the sweetener. One they use is called Acesulfamine potassium. It's called ACE k for short. Uh-huh. And it is in most people's diets because it's in a lot of processed American food, like we talked about last week.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And they'll use the concentration of that sweetener in your pool to approximate how much urine is in the pool.
Jam:Wow. Okay.
Melissa:Isn't that crazy? Yes. That is so smart.
Jam:I would not have predicted that. I would have thought something specific about urine, like urea, would be what we'd look for.
Melissa:But it reacts
Jam:artificial sweetener.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:That is interesting.
Melissa:And a lot of urine is water too. So I think a lot of it just Goes out, reacts, is gone. So that's amazing to me.
Jam:Yeah. That's interesting.
Melissa:So they use that to approximate the amount of urine in your pool, And their approximation is in a commercial size swimming pool, which is roughly 220,000 gallons Uh-huh. There are 20 gallons of urine.
Jam:Wow. Dang. That's a lot.
Melissa:Yes. I mean, theoretically, it's not just urine in its state. It's reacting.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:But ew. Yeah. For home pools, they approximate about 2 gallons. But, you know, if you can control who's in your pool, if they're urinating Yeah. You know?
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So they approximate about 2 gallons of urine in a residential pool.
Jam:Mhmm. And
Melissa:then because it's Olympics Mhmm. I decided to extrapolate that to an Olympic sized swimming pool.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:This is my own extrapolation. This is not a scientific study.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But if an Olympic swimming pool is roughly 3 times as large as a typical commercial pool Uh-huh. 660,000 gallons, That would be about 60 gallons of urine in an Olympic pool.
Jam:Oh my gosh.
Melissa:But I doubt that it is that way because they're in and out. You know?
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So I don't think that's probably a 100% accurate.
Jam:You're right.
Melissa:But I
Jam:don't know
Melissa:if they go in there and practice and yearning. I don't know what happens at Olympic swimming pools.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. So Yeah. I guess you're good to say basically the size. Like, if you had a pool that was that size
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:But that wasn't necessary well, it's being used by normal people Yes. Then it would be like that.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Wow. Dang. That's crazy.
Melissa:I know. Disgusting.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:It gets worse. Oh, no. Other things in our urine Can react and cause other DBPs.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Such as, if you take some medicines, There might be some molecules that pass through undigested.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And if you urinate in the pool, those come out too.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:Usually, these are in small concentrations, so hopefully, they're not gonna do much, but also they've identified cyanogen chloride, which is classified as a chemical warfare agent.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Nitrosamines, which can cause cancer.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And up to 600 other disinfection byproducts.
Jam:Wow. Dang. Jeez.
Melissa:And, I mean, theoretically, we've all been swimming in pools for a long time, and it's okay. They're in small percentages. It's not the end of the world. Yeah. But the more pee in the pool Mhmm.
Jam:The
Melissa:higher the concentration of those is gonna be
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:The less safe it is for you to be in that pool.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:And the longer you go without changing the water, because really changing the water is the only thing that gets rid of those completely, the worse your pull is gonna be.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:So here's my objective science Take on this situation
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That also another scientist who actually researches this also said.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Being in the pool is not only gross, it's dangerous. And she said she thinks of it like secondhand smoke. It's inconsiderate.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:And just not a good move for other people around you.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Not urinating in the pool Solves the problem. Yeah. But also, just a quick rinse before you get in the pool helps with Anything else that's on your body that can cause other disinfection byproducts.
Jam:Yeah. And a lot of public pools try people to do that. Yes. But, you know, it's kinda hard to police that.
Melissa:But Yes.
Jam:I've seen that in multiple places where they ask you to take a shower, like, just rinse off
Melissa:Yes. Before. And I think especially if I'm in my, you know, my own pool or a friend's pool, I don't often think, when it runs off because I'm about to jump in the pool.
Jam:Yeah. Yep.
Melissa:But if you are thinking about it as protecting the pool water
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:That makes a lot sense. Just rinse off real quick.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:And then your pool water will be better, safer for longer.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:Because even your lotion can react
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Or sunscreen or whatever you have on your body can react with what's in your pool.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So I thought that was fascinating.
Jam:Yeah. Seriously. That is. Dang. And also very applicable for me Having a pool?
Melissa:For you and for summer?
Jam:I don't really feel like I like, now I might I don't know the right way to approach it, but I already would want would not want people to pee my pool anyway.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:But now I definitely don't want them to be mindful.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Probably not approach that, so we'll see
Melissa:Yeah. How that happens. Maybe just say, hey. I found out that urine and pools can cause a lot of really dangerous chemical byproducts. So if you're gonna use my pool, don't urinate in it.
Melissa:That's the best you can do.
Jam:Or maybe I'll say I have a sign that says, like, you have to listen to this podcast episode before you enter the pool. Something like that.
Melissa:Yeah. Definitely. Send it to all your typical pool users.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:Oh, that's funny. Okay. Well, do you wanna take a stab at at telling this back to me? I mean, it's kind of a complicated episode because It sort of gets at the idea that chemical reactions aren't just simple. Pool chemistry is complicated, and we complicate it even further.
Jam:Yeah. And it already feels complicated. It's like you that just confirmed that. But, like Yeah. Pools already feel complicated.
Jam:I remember when I worked at the pool store, people are always scratching their heads like, why did this happen? I just put with this in there, why is it gone? Or blah blah blah. It rained. Why is all my why my chemical is all crazy?
Jam:And so I I experienced that sort of secondhand through customers. And then owning pool now, I experience it also. So
Melissa:Also, in the last Summer Olympics in 2016, one of the pools just turned green, And they they didn't know why. Eventually, they said they thought it was that someone put hydrogen peroxide instead of bleach in there. Weird. I know. I was looking up Olympic pools and
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Chlorine, and that's you can look it up if you look up. Think it's Rio de Janeiro.
Jam:Uh-huh. I didn't remember that.
Melissa:Green pool. It looks crazy.
Jam:My pool was green just the other day, and our our pool guy came and helped me, and we fixed it overnight. It was crazy. It was, like, Put a lot of stuff in it. It looked super green. And then the next morning, I walked out, and it was nice crystal blue.
Melissa:Oh, I love that. Yep. Good job, pool guy.
Jam:Yeah. I texted him, and he was like I texted a picture of it, and he was like, see, I am good at my job. I knew it. I just wasn't sure for sure, but now I am for sure. That's funny.
Jam:Okay. So So the gist of this, in my opinion, is, 1, that pools are a complicated witch's cauldron, Like you said
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Of reactions. Lots of reactions happening.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:They're already happening before we even get in. Mhmm. And then, How dare we? We get in. We introduce a lot of other stuff.
Melissa:Mess up the chemical reaction.
Jam:Mhmm. So there's already the reaction is going on, and we add more bacteria, more just stuff of the lotion that's for wearing, and sometimes people pee in the pool. Sick. Adding more things to react.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And when it does, That reaction causes a bunch of stuff to happen that is not intended. People think, I'm just adding a little bit of water and some Urea or whatever.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:But it reacts with the other things going on in the pool
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And creates what is it? Trichloramine?
Melissa:Yes. Trichloramine. Urea plus chlorine.
Jam:Yeah. Which makes trichloramine, which is not good for us.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And I forget all of the lists you said, but one thing was included, linking it to asthma if you're around it a lot.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And so pretty big deal, and it's what large part of what we might be smelling We're at a public pool?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:That there's just a gas cloud hanging out over the pool?
Melissa:Yeah. So if you're if you have asthma, if your child has asthma, maybe Stick to outdoor pools.
Jam:Yeah. And yeah. Especially, yeah, in an indoor pool, it's gonna hang out there and not go anywhere. And that that is not only obviously A strong smell that isn't the most pleasant ever, although we're all kinda used to it a little bit. Right.
Jam:But it's also not good for us. Mhmm. And it's very preventable. Mhmm. Just by not peeing the pool.
Jam:Yeah. And we could prevent other reactions by also just rinsing off Yeah. Moving the pool. And especially with a powerful fool, I would say, you know, be kind. Be a neighbor.
Jam:You know? Yeah. Don't cause some trichloramine for your neighbor to have to breathe in?
Melissa:Yeah. Just be kind. Don't you wouldn't smoke a cigarette and blood in someone else's face, I hope. Yeah. So don't be in the water they're standing in either.
Jam:Oh, and you said the red eyes thing, which I've
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:I remember as a kid. That happens sometimes.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:So, anyway, it's just not good. So
Melissa:It's not good for us.
Jam:Let's let's all agree. Let's take a pact. You, me, everyone listening, just just us. Let's take a pact not to pee.
Melissa:Yeah. And spread the word.
Jam:Yeah. And don't shame people, but Make them feel good about not doing it.
Melissa:Yes. Just say something like, you know what's crazy? I found out that urine in the pool can cause carcinogens, and it makes pool smell, which can give you asthma. Yeah. So you're not really supposed to pee in the pool and pretend like you were use you used to be part of that gang in a way.
Jam:Yeah. I changed.
Melissa:Yeah. Act like you changed. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe you actually did change.
Melissa:Yeah. I didn't change because I have always thought That that is gross, and it goes against my mental block of being anywhere but a toilet.
Jam:Yeah. Right. Right. Right. You have the benefit of also not being able to even if you wanted to.
Melissa:Yes. Exactly. I've I've tried. It does not work.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:You know, I don't get it. I don't know how people can just do that. But but I was impacted by learning all of this stuff.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Kinda makes you realize that it's gonna be even grosser.
Jam:Yeah. You
Melissa:know, pools are even grosser than I ever knew.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Makes me wanna stop swimming at my pool at my apartment and only swim here at your your house.
Jam:Heat free zone.
Melissa:Hopefully. I mean, we don't know what our friends are doing in there.
Jam:That's true. But they are deaf there are definitely fewer people peeing. So even if
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:The people we know have peed, god forbid, It would be way less than a public pool.
Melissa:Absolutely.
Jam:Based on my knowledge of records of how many people have been in our pool. So
Melissa:Yeah. Well, That's our unsettling news about urinating in pools. Got any other news for me this week? Maybe something less Disturbing?
Jam:Oh, yes. Definitely less disturbing. So this past week, I had a day where I had to be in Plano for something. Now people people that don't know the Dallas area and stuff and how far away Denton is, it's not that far. It's just that I'm not over there very often.
Melissa:Right. It's maybe about an hour.
Jam:Yep. But we have a lot of Melissa and I both a lot of people in didn't know a lot of people in Plano.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And so and I used to work in Plano, and I used to drive there every day.
Melissa:Yikes.
Jam:So I had a reason to need to be in Plano for 1 meeting, and that was awesome because and I had some, other time that day. Mhmm. So I was able to hang out with not 1, but 2 people that I don't see very often anymore, and it was so enjoyable. Aw. The first was I got Super early morning coffee with our friend, Matt.
Melissa:Oh, love him.
Jam:And that was awesome.
Melissa:Oh, yeah. He used to be a Denton person, and I'm sad that he and his wife left.
Jam:Yep. Yep. They left, but they're not that far away. I just don't see them very often. They have a kid that is super close in age to Our son.
Melissa:So Yeah.
Jam:That that's always fun.
Melissa:She's really cute.
Jam:Yes. Yep. And so it was really cool to get to catch up with him and have, Like, a little bit more time than I normally would have to do that. Right. We just we got there at, like, 7 AM.
Jam:We're like, let's just do it. Let's just
Melissa:That's crazy. Yeah. That's a parent move.
Jam:Yeah. It really is.
Melissa:We don't sleep anyway, so let's just gut that man.
Jam:Let's be not sleeping at the same place and drink some coffee. It I'll just kinda mitigate that. So we hung out, and then I got to get lunch after my meeting that I was really there for in Plano. I had lunch with my old one of my old coworkers named Tripp
Melissa:Oh, that's cool.
Jam:Who I miss a lot. I miss a lot of my old coworkers and don't have as many reasons to need to be in Plano as I'd like to end up getting chances to catch up with him. Yeah. So, I worked with Tripp for years and Definitely missed that. So it was cool to get lunch with him and just cut catch up on on stuff.
Jam:And Yeah. In both the situations, it's like you kinda pick out where we left off in some ways.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:You know?
Melissa:That's nice. Yeah. I love friends.
Jam:That was a huge highlight for me
Melissa:of my week. Sweet. I love that.
Jam:What about you? What happened in your week this past week? That's that's more hopeful than how bad it is for people to pee in the pool.
Melissa:As as many people know, I was recently married. Not recently anymore. It's been months now.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And we have been trying to get Me on my husband's film plan since we got back.
Jam:Oh, yeah. That's a fun exercise.
Melissa:Yes. But there is life Experiences. And then the all the information that we had from the bill, from my dad from our family plan
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:When my dad, my brother, and I are all on
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Was not working to transfer the line over. Oh, yes. Matter what we did, it was inexplicable.
Jam:What the heck?
Melissa:And all the information was definitely right. I don't know what the problem was. Yeah. But my brother, he's the one that kind of maintains the phone plan Uh-huh. Did some magic where he basically, a long time ago, we bundled all these different things.
Melissa:Uh-huh. Their cable TV, I think, is from that phone provider and our phones and the Internet. And so there's all these account numbers, and we have the wrong one on our mobile bill that was not associated with the phone line because it was from so long ago, the phone line. Yeah. So it's a new account that bundled them, but it didn't work.
Melissa:Yeah. And so he had to basically do some kind of coding magic and go on the back end and figure out what this mystery account number was, and I didn't think it would work because it sounded like you just hacked into something and made it up. Yeah. Yeah. And it worked.
Melissa:And so finally, after 3 months, I am upgrading from my 5 to 6, can't even remember how old, year old iPhone Uh-huh. An iPhone 6 s.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Which I got in 2015, so that's 6 years.
Jam:Yeah. That's a long time.
Melissa:It's an old phone.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:Nobody I know still has it.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:I knew 1 person, and she recently abandoned me. Uh-huh. So I'm really excited. I got a compostable phone case to go with it, and I will be in this decade of technology again
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:Within the week.
Jam:Very cool.
Melissa:That was so exciting. I did not think that was gonna work. Yeah. Yeah. So Yeah.
Melissa:Shout out to my brother for asking about Pool chemistry and also for helping me get a phone.
Jam:Yes. Heck yeah.
Melissa:And shout out also To Jam and all of our listeners for coming and learning about what pool smell really is.
Jam:And thank you for teaching us and for giving us even more reasons not to pee the pool and if we need it anymore. And just take it away, Chelsea.
Chelsea:Hi, everyone. This is Chelsea bringing you this week's credits from Lansing, Michigan because I won the 100th episode contest. Melissa and Jam have a lot of ideas for topics of chemistry of everyday life, but they wanna hear from you. If you have questions or ideas, you can reach out to them at Gmail Or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at chem for your life. That's fem, f o r, your life to share thoughts and ideas.
Chelsea:If you'd like to help keep the show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, go to kofi.com/chem for your life And donate the cost of a cup of coffee. If you aren't able to donate, you can still help the show by subscribing on your favorite podcast app And rating and writing a review on Apple Podcasts. That helps to share chemistry with even more people. This episode of chemistry for your life was created by Melissa Collini and Jam Robinson. References for the episode can be found in the show notes or on the website.
Chelsea:Jam Robinson is the producer, and chemistry for your life would like to give a special thanks to s Navarro and n Newell who reviewed this episode.
