Bonus: Why doesn’t superglue harden in the tube? (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 for your life.
Jam:The podcast that takes your questions that may or may not have to do with something about chemistry And answers or them or tries to respond the best we can.
Melissa:Jim, how are you doing today?
Jam:I'm doing great. I've got my coffee for your life in my chemistry for your life mug.
Melissa:That is so cute. I love it. My my coffee life?
Jam:Yeah. My
Melissa:Coffee for life is Jam's coffee company grinding thing, so it's, like, perfect that Yeah. That he calls it that.
Jam:Yeah. It was the it was definitely the 2nd for your life thing that ever existed.
Melissa:Don't know if the listeners know that, actually, chemistry for your life is just part of JAM's for your life empire, really. It's a whole empire.
Jam:It's a empire that's been, just you can kinda add for your life on the end of anything. That's kinda why I did it.
Melissa:This is perfect.
Jam:I was like, what's a way to basically not have to worry about the naming of things? So the first thing I did was cards. I did did I have some greeting cards I only use my greeting cards, some thank you cards. And so I just put cards for your life on the back.
Melissa:And then I think
Jam:then it was coffee and then podcast for your life and then, kombucha for your life and then chemistry for your life.
Melissa:That's a fun origin. I bet people don't know that. And, also, people probably don't know that my brother and I talked about making this podcast before his baby was born. Have been a lot harder with him because he's not an audio engineer the way you are. But
Jam:And he lives a little further away.
Melissa:Which mattered at the beginning, but doesn't.
Jam:Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:But he wanted to call it let's get chemical and then have the theme song be let's get chemical, like that song. Yeah.
Jam:Which is a great idea. You told me that back when we were first talking about it, but it also felt a little bit like, oh, that was y'all's idea. It might be better for us to just do different so that it doesn't just take what y'all were talking about?
Melissa:Right. So shout out to my brother. He was The first one, he thought this was a good idea. He doesn't like science as much as jam, or maybe he, at the time, felt like Not science as a whole, but chemistry wasn't as applicable as I was trying to make it out to be. And so it's almost going to be a convince him That chemistry is everywhere in your life.
Melissa:So but now he is a reviewer on our show, and he's awesome and has great ideas, and We love him here at Chemistry For Your Life, so thanks, Anthony. Sorry we bailed on you. Okay. I got some questions for me.
Jam:I've got some questions for you. So the first question is, I think, a really interesting one from Caleb r. He asks, does unleaded gasoline need a chemistry explanation?
Melissa:Caleb, that is a great Question. And the answer is absolutely yes. All gasoline needs a chemistry explanation. My roommates and I were just having this conversation the other day when we talked about what type of gas you put in your boat compared to your car and what even is gasoline. So it's on the docket.
Melissa:It's on the list. We're gonna to it, but I didn't even think about tackling the unleaded part of it. So it's all just gonna be in there.
Jam:Damn. Very interested in that.
Melissa:Like
Jam:Oh. It's a liquid that we call gas, and I'm like, whose idea was that?
Melissa:I never even thought about that. Those 2 things were in different categories in my brain. I didn't think about gas, meaning solid liquid gas, and gasoline being a liquid that we put in our vehicles.
Jam:Yeah. That's the thing that a nonchemist like me would just be annoyed by. Like, who picked these words, and why do we do it like that? You knew people were gonna shorten it.
Melissa:Even when you were initially starting that explanation, I was thinking, what's wrong with gas? I don't know. Yeah. Oh, that's funny. Okay.
Melissa:So good job, Caleb. It's coming. Don't worry.
Jam:Nice. Good question. Okay. So next one's from Mason k, And he asks, there are some sprays that will activate superglue quicker or you can sprinkle baking soda on there. Can you talk about that?
Melissa:Yes. I can. That is a fun one because it allowed me to use the fundamentals of chemistry, and I didn't even have to look it up, which is exciting. So we know that superglue, as it cures, is basically a chemical reaction that a polymer is forming, And it's initiated by a catalyst. It starts off the reaction.
Melissa:Mhmm. And that catalyst are these negatively charged ions in water. Baking soda also has negatively charged ions, and I'm assuming so do those sprays. So I think they just start the reaction faster and get more polymers growing at the same time or molecule chains growing at the same time. Mhmm.
Melissa:So it cures faster rather than relying on the trace amounts of those that exist in the slight coverage of water that's everywhere. Mhmm. That's my guess. I didn't look it up. That's just what I think from my brain.
Jam:Interesting. That makes sense because the everybody knows about the fundamentals of chemistry that they're well known to be fun.
Melissa:And then the next question I actually put in because they didn't have time to talk about it in the episode, but I really wanted to.
Jam:Okay. So this one from
Melissa:my question to myself. This is
Jam:from a listener sorry. One second. I couldn't hear what you're saying. This is from a listener of Melissa c, and she asked, Why doesn't superglue harden in the tube?
Melissa:Okay. It's the opposite of the negatively charged Ions, those are known as bases, positively charged ions. A specific one, a proton, is acidic, so they coat the inside of the tube with an acid so that that reaction can't Start because the acid is neutralizing any of those negative charge ions that are coming at it. Amazing. Yeah.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:So my reference for that is in the references for the Superglue episode, but I couldn't find a way to fit it in. So won't have that reference here because I don't remember which specific one it was, but it's in that other reference.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:Isn't that so smart and clever?
Jam:Yeah. Dude, that's awesome. Very
Melissa:nice. Also, since we're just throwing in things that I wanted to include in this q and r, Someone on Instagram named Gab Pohler replied to our query for questions on Instagram and just told us That she loves the podcast, which I thought was really nice to take the time to say that. So thanks, Scab Polar. That was sweet. Wanted to give you a shout out even though You didn't have a question.
Melissa:She said, I don't have a question. But Yeah. I love the podcast so much. I thought that was really nice and Kind. So Yes.
Jam:Sounds very nice. And we are here when whenever you do, if ever, have a question.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Okay. So this next question isn't a question. It's a tidbit of info from doctor Moon, which she sounds like almost like a superhero or something.
Melissa:Hi, doctor Schmidt. She does. Yeah.
Jam:That sounds way cool, doctor Moon. So okay. She said, when I listened to your podcast about smells, It reminded me of something I'd read in Napoleon's buttons, 17 molecules that changed history by Penny Lacotile. Well so what is that? Is that
Melissa:I think it's just a book about 17 molecules that changed history. I've Heard of that before, and I really want to read it, but I haven't yet. This was gonna jump start me to do it because it'll give me more things to chat about on the podcast. Interesting. Thanks, doctor Moon.
Jam:And so she goes on to say most of us are familiar with the spices of nutmeg and clove. I'm fairly certain that you would be able to tell the difference between both the taste and the smell of the 2 spices. The super cool thing is that the chemical structure of The compound responsible for the taste and smell of the spices is remarkably similar. In fact, eugenol from cloves And isoeugenol from nutmeg are exactly the same except for the position of a single double bond. In other words, Eugenol and isoeugenol are made up of the same elements in the same ratios.
Jam:The only difference is where that one double bond is found. Holy.
Melissa:Yes. So I was very excited about that. This comes from, we said, doctor Moon. She's a PhD in genetics and microbiology, and she does home cooling now, and she is really fun. I've we follow her on Instagram now, and she has some really good stuff that she shares.
Melissa:You can go check her out. But I really love this because it underlines some things that we've talked about before, and that is the idea that form and function Go hand in hand. The way this molecule is shaped or the atoms that go into it Impact how it functions in our body. So we had a similar thing when we talked about sugars, and I mentioned limonene, which is orange or lemon, and they are the exact same molecule, but a mirror image. And 1, we our receptors take as orange y, and 1, our receptors take as lemony.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Or when we had all those capsaicin was a vanilla vanilloid, which A lot of other things like ginger also and vanilla are vanilloids. So they have 1 base unit that's similar, but that Functional group attachment changes out. So you can see how the way something is built and the way it functions go Hand in hand. And small changes can make big impacts in chemistry. And we've talked about that a lot, so I didn't know about this example.
Melissa:So when she sent it to me, I was really Excited to include that in our q and r.
Jam:Yeah. Dang. That's awesome. That's crazy.
Melissa:Super cool. So
Jam:this next question's a fun one. Last time, you guys don't remember, we got a question from our friend Harry who asked about our favorite movies, And we gave some of those. We actually also traded movies, which we'll talk about in a second. But he asked about our favorite books this time. So do you what are some of our favorite books, Melissa?
Jam:Which actually you know what's funny is we talked about this whenever you were on Podcast For Your Life. We did a little bit of
Melissa:Oh, yeah.
Jam:Book sharing and stuff.
Melissa:That's true. Well, right now, I'm reading Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting to Go in the Cafeteria, and that's Mhmm. A really good book that's a scholarly book, but also sort of feels like a novel, which I'm partial to.
Jam:Yeah. I'm reading that too, actually.
Melissa:Really?
Jam:Did we talk about that?
Melissa:Yeah. Did you send me a video clip of you reading that out loud to your son once?
Jam:That was just on our, like, shared album, I think, that Em took.
Melissa:But, yes, that's
Jam:what I was reading. I'm about a third of the way through it.
Melissa:I think I'm actually in a similar place. So that's it's a really good book, and I really like her introduction. Talks about the language that we choose to use and how that impacts what people perceive you as. You know, I could say I'm a chemist, and Some people might think that means one thing, but it could mean something really different. I don't work in a lab, but that's not the picture you paint with the word chemist.
Melissa:Right. Right. So I don't work in a lab anymore. But Mhmm. So I really, really like her approach to that book.
Melissa:And I also just finished up Anna Karenina, which took me 2 ish years to listen to. Uh-huh. And something I really liked about it was how she Well, I guess he she is the one who reads it. But Mhmm. The way he writes about the book, mean, it can be really dull.
Melissa:It's an old Russian classic.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But he does a really good job of taking you out of your perspective and putting you in another perspective, and was inspired to read it by an episode of the podcast, Rough Translation, and they They put out an episode called Anna in Somalia. Mhmm. And it really talks about how The book Anna Karenina impacted this prisoner, this Somalian prisoner, and how it really changed his life. So Then I started to read it, and it is incredible to me how Tolstoy is able to do that and write about human nature in a way that You think this is still happening. People are still acting like this right now.
Melissa:Or Mhmm. I still struggle with My subjective opinion and need to be able to take my mind out of it and look at the objectivity. And Anna Karenina is just really good at that. It's just really good at showing all the perspectives and how you could be interpreting something one way and someone else is having a completely different experience.
Jam:Yeah. Interesting. Good answers.
Melissa:But also it's really boring. Don't go into it thinking it's gonna be the most fun and interesting book. It's both. It's sometimes Fascinating and so fun to listen to, and sometimes I did not care at all. Uh-huh.
Melissa:What about you? What are. Okay. You're reading Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria, and Yep. What are some of your other favorites?
Jam:Okay. So You and I share a love of Lord of the Rings. That's one of my
Melissa:favorite 100%. Yeah.
Jam:Series of books. I love I've just I've been to, like, a lot of sci fi, like, kind of classic sci fi or just highly regarded sci fi. Books like 2001, a Space Odyssey is, like, so good. I love The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks, doctor Oliver Sacks. That's a fascinating book.
Jam:It's like it's it's real stories of his experiences with patients that he's changed the information about them, but tells them in a really qualitative way. Super interesting. He's a neurologist. Right?
Melissa:And he loves chemistry.
Jam:Yeah. He's super cool.
Melissa:He's been on Radiolab.
Jam:Oh, yeah. A ton. And he is no longer with us. RIP.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Doctor Sacks. So but this last point I wanna say is Dune, the book the legendary book
Melissa:by Frank Herbert. Dune Dune. Nice. I never come up with good things like that. That was exciting.
Jam:Nice. That was good. That was good. So this one is especially exciting because it's finally getting what appears to be what is very a very promising Film adaptation, finally.
Melissa:Woo hoo.
Jam:That's great. Very, very good book. Great time to read it. Between now December, you've got till December 18th to read it so that you're ready to watch the movie. And It is very good.
Jam:There's a lot of science in Dune, lot of ecology, a lot of, kind of Power struggles, a lot of very relatable class and, race and ethnic struggles that are happening in a book that are not that dissimilar Similar from things that happen here in real life on Earth.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And it's got beasts. It's got prophecies. It's got All kinds of stuff.
Melissa:Got it all. It's got everything. Yep. Okay. Maybe I'll give it a try.
Jam:I've been trying to to root hard for People to read Dune now. So, you guys, this is not the last we'll hear of of Dune and me talking about it. Even this one doesn't ask.
Melissa:Yay. Okay. Well, that's exciting.
Jam:I'm rereading it now, so I'll probably be talking about it as I go.
Melissa:Okay. Well, we'll be looking forward to those updates. Maybe I'll think about reading it. We'll see. We'll see what happens.
Melissa:But I do want to see what happened with you and watching Pride and Prejudice because I didn't get an update from But you updated me wait. But I updated you on my watching of The Godfather. So Yeah. Let's hear it.
Jam:Okay. Well, I watched Pride and Prejudice.
Melissa:Did you watch it with friends or by yourself?
Jam:I watched it with 2 of my roommates or my 2 roommates, I should say, not including my wife, and we watched it.
Melissa:Did you like the filming? Did you like the nature scenes and that that crazy long party scene where the camera never breaks?
Jam:Yes. I liked that. There's also a little bit of a shorter one at the beginning when she's walking where they do a kind of long
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Shape shot. Whether you're kinda just seeing her house and her life a little bit. But, yes, I liked it. It was very pretty. The shooting and everything was good acting.
Jam:I, we changed up our shoot our recording days, and so I ended up Having going from having, like, 5 days left to watch it to having one day. So I had watched it last night, and I was tired. But it was good. It was better than I expected. Because I knew it's like a romantic story, I just was not expecting to enjoy it at all.
Jam:But I liked Kieran Atlee's character more than I expected I would. I kind of I mean, a lot of the romantic Movies and stories, they just have everybody be pretty one dimensional. It's like
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And there was a little bit of that, I would say. Like, some the other characters don't get as much about it's like all you know is that they wanna get married. And it's like a little bit like, okay. Like, that's kind of archaic. It's not their fault that that was what the times were like.
Jam:But, Right. It's like you don't get to know some more about people other than just everyone's to get married.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And these people are not as rich as these people. But Her character is cool. You get to learn more about her and and the very obvious fact that you get to have to relearn this 1 character that you think That you and she thinks that they know
Melissa:that
Jam:you don't, and he's a lot better of a person than you think.
Melissa:And Spoiler alert.
Jam:No. Sorry. This
Melissa:movie several years to watch it. So Yeah.
Jam:And I am on the, like, very, very tail end of that. Like, surely Right. I'm one of the very few people who's not seen this movie.
Melissa:Well, I did suspect you'd feel that way. I suspected you would think it would be really stupid, but then you would be a little bit pleasantly surprised. Mhmm. I also really like this scene where she's on the swing in the in the barnyard kind of, and it spins around and time passes. Mhmm.
Melissa:Mhmm. So
Jam:Because any any book like that, it's a classic that has to be put into a movie. There's things you're gonna have to leave out in a bridge or whatever. And so I think that was a good way of doing it just to make that time was passing, because otherwise, it's like years passed since they first met, and and that's supposed to make this so significant. Like, it Otherwise, it would just seem like, oh, yeah. This is like a couple months ago.
Jam:You know?
Melissa:Right. And I think it is one of the best capturings I've seen of that story, which is really complex. All the characters in the book Pride and Prejudice are very complex, and you get to see more of them. Mhmm. And Jane Austen has a similar thing as Tolstoy where she captures human nature and can kind of comment on The way people are even now by reflecting on the way people were then.
Melissa:You know? And Uh-huh. And my mom and I used to talk about that. And so I think That's a similar thing that I like about both of those authors that Yeah. Is pretty good.
Melissa:So but also that's just a pretty movie. It's just pretty.
Jam:Yeah. So And it was pretty cool. Like, obviously, fan favorite. Huge huge fan of the character mister Collins. Like, that was he is cool.
Melissa:Love it. Boiled potatoes, it gets me every time. Excellent boiled potatoes.
Jam:His haircut, his everything is so creepy.
Melissa:Collins is a cousin. Right?
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. He's a cousin.
Melissa:Okay. Good.
Jam:I was kidding because he's, like, very horrible, and you don't like him at all. And everything about him is just a little bit like,
Melissa:I mean, I don't think he's a terrible person. He's just kind of a weird guy. You know? Like, I don't think he has bad intentions. He just does not socially graced.
Jam:Yeah. And not aware of himself at all.
Melissa:Yeah. Okay. Well, I watched The Godfather, and I texted Jam after a really brutal scene where A pregnant woman was treated terribly
Jam:and Yeah.
Melissa:Said, what are we doing here? People just keep dying. Why am I watching this? And he replied with some good thoughts that convinced me that I think were I to watch it again, I would be a little bit more Happy about it because it does tell a good story. I think it has a point.
Melissa:Mhmm. You know, it's just slowly devolving of this character, but I was watching it thinking he was a good guy Yeah. And I was heartbroken and horrified as I watch what happened. And There's just some really hateful, cruel things that took place. Yep.
Melissa:People being hurt that didn't really deserve it Mhmm. In some cases. It was just Really, it was hard to watch in some ways, but also I think that probably made it good. Mhmm.
Jam:Yeah. So It's it's a tough movie. It's definitely not like I think sometimes people are like, oh, dude, I love The Godfather. Like, oh, man. So cool.
Jam:And, like, that's just the wrong way to really get somebody, like, comfortable.
Melissa:I think that's what I was expecting.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. It's it's an epic. It's, it's almost like Shakespearean, like a modern that's one of the things I told you whenever we were texting about it, but it's like a modern somewhat modern. Maybe that's, like, 19 Forties or fifties or whatever.
Jam:Like, version of it. What would be kind of like a Shakespearean story. Lots of characters.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:They're all flawed, And there's not really one that you can be like, okay. He's our guy. It's more like
Melissa:And it does kind of remind me too of that Tolstoy story. They're reflecting on human character. We're slowly looking at these experiences and trying to take it all in. You know? And it's not just gonna end happy.
Melissa:That's not how real life works, so that's not how this is gonna work. You know? Yeah. Jane Austen has happy endings. So Yeah.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:But, Also, I feel that I have so many more cultural references. I knew they were from The Godfather from watching Gilmore Girls.
Jam:Oh, yeah.
Melissa:But now I know what They mean. Mhmm.
Jam:Yep. Now you can, like, carry the card. Even if you didn't, like, love it or you don't wanna watch it again, which is totally fine, now you've got The references and you can reference them. You're not just Uh-huh. Like, oh, I recognize that from it from somewhere else or whatever.
Melissa:I think I would watch it again, and I think my 2nd viewing experience would be enhanced by knowing what was coming. Mhmm. Mhmm. Because I think I went Into it thinking it was gonna be more like a cool gangster type film. Like, like, Public Enemy number 1 maybe, dead, it was a story of something much deeper and more heartrending.
Melissa:So I was taken aback to some degree, but I think if I watched it again, I would Know what I was expecting and be able to appreciate it more. Sometimes I spoil myself on movies so that I can have that. Because If I don't know what to expect, that's gonna really impact me. So Yeah. I think if I watch it a 2nd time, I would like it more, actually.
Melissa:Yeah. I might. I if the opportunity arises, I'll say yes. And maybe I'll watch the godfather part 2.
Jam:Yeah. I think you'd be pretty prepared for part 2, which is very good also. Okay.
Melissa:Yeah. Cool. Well, this is a fun one.
Jam:Yes. That was just that's chemistry movie talk here on 98.5, The the Flask.
Melissa:The longest bonus episode of our lives.
Jam:Yeah. And all you guys had already seen all those movies. It's it's funny too because those are 2 movies that probably, like, most people have seen both of. A lot of people I know. And here we are being like, yeah.
Jam:Brian Bridges. Wow. Like, That was interesting. And, like, The Godfather, I know it's been out for, you know, 40 years, but it's just hard to survive. It was
Melissa:a good trade. Everyone else who hasn't seen those movies or who hasn't loved them, please write in and tell us your thoughts because I thought this was really fun. And Yeah. Q and r's are our time to connect with you guys in a more public setting, and I really like that. So, you know, we wanna hear from y'all.
Jam:Yep. Absolutely.
Melissa:Well, thanks, Jam, for watching Pride and Prejudice, which is against, you know, some of your nature Mhmm. And for finding the beauty in it. And thanks to all your listeners for putting up with us chatting about movies for 10 minutes.
Jam:And thanks for watching Godfather, and thanks, Harry, again, for those fun questions. That was awesome.
Melissa:Yeah. That is fun. And anyone who wants to hear any other non chemistry stuff from me and Jim, we love it, and we think it's really fun. We're friends, so we like chatting. This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and Jam Robinson.
Melissa:We'd like to give a special thanks to E Robinson who reviewed this episode.
