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This week Melissa and Jam do the last Question and Response episode. We'll continue to do Questions and Responses every month, but after asking listeners for their preference, Q&Rs will now air as bonuses, rather than in place of a standard episode. Tune in this week as we tackle some fun questions about water in space, boiling water in a microwave, sugar on freezing roads (instead of salt), and using stainless steel to curb the smell of garlic.
Question and Response #03
This week Melissa and Jam do the last Question and Response episode. We'll continue to do Questions and Responses every month, but after asking listeners for their preference, Q&Rs will now air as bonuses, rather than in place of a standard episode. Tune in this week as we tackle some fun questions about water in space, boiling water in a microwave, sugar on freezing roads (instead of salt), and using stainless steel to curb the smell of garlic.
References
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
A podcast that helps you understand the fascinating chemistry hidden in your everyday life.
Have you ever wondered why onions make you cry? Or how soap gets your hands clean? What really is margarine, or why do trees change colors in the fall? Melissa is a chemist, and to answer these questions she started a podcast, called Chemistry for your life!
In each episode Melissa explains the chemistry behind one of life’s mysteries to Jam, who is definitely not a chemist, but she explains it in a way that is easy to understand, and totally fascinating.
If you’re someone who loves learning new things, or who wonders about the way the world works, then give us a listen.
Hey, guys. Before we get started with today's episode, we wanted to let you know about a cool opportunity for you to help us with the podcast. Jam and I love doing chemistry for your life, and we wanna make sure that it is always 100% free for anyone to listen. But it does cost us money to host the podcast, to get any additional resources we might need, and to do giveaways. If you find value in what we're doing and you'd like to help us out with that, we set up a website where you can donate the cost of a cup of coffee.
Melissa:If you're interested in supporting us in that way, the equivalent of just buying us a cup of coffee, it would really help us in continuing the show. Please check out our website on www.kofi.com/chem for your life. That's www. Kodashfi.com/chem for your life. The link for that is also in our Instagram and Twitter bios and in the show notes.
Melissa:We are so thankful for all the support you already give us as listeners. This is just a little something extra. And now on to today's show. 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 will help you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:Happy Thanksgiving, Jam.
Jam:Yeah. It's here. Yay. You too.
Melissa:Well, we, Jam and I, hope that you guys are all at home with your loved ones. And we are going to spend today with our loved ones too, but we didn't wanna miss a day with you guys. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Jam:I
Melissa:am always sad if my podcast that I listen to skip. So
Jam:Yeah. And maybe you're on your way to Mhmm. Spend time with your family today. Maybe today was your travel day. Yeah.
Jam:Who knows? So you might be glad to have something to listen to in the car.
Melissa:Or maybe you're listening to us on Friday, tomorrow. Yeah. So you
Jam:can any day at any point in the future, forever. I don't know.
Melissa:So we just still wanted to hop in with a quick episode, but we are going to do this is our last full q and r episode.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So we get a lot of questions written in, And we've been substituting content out for q and r episode days, but today is gonna be the last time we do that. Mhmm. We took a vote on Instagram, and the overwhelming majority was switch those to little mini extra So Mhmm. We need to come up with a cute name for them.
Jam:Yeah. We'll we'll figure that out. It was kinda like I think it was, like, 2 thirds wanted it to be Maybe a little bit better than that. But 2 thirds wanted it to be bonus episodes for q and r. Mhmm.
Jam:And then, like, 1 third liked it as it is. So I
Melissa:thought it was 25%.
Jam:Maybe it was that. It's been long enough. But there is some percentage of people who liked it as is, so we're very sorry. We just wanna make sure that like, we're not gonna cut it out completely. We just wanna make sure that, that the majority, as most as possible, have the best listening experience possible.
Jam:So Yeah. We'll still take Questions and answer them, and we'll just put them in bonus things for you guys who want bonuses.
Melissa:Little mini extra episodes. Yeah. Okay. So now let's go ahead and jump right into our questions.
Jam:Okey doke. So these first questions are a few from the same guy, from Steven h. He asks, the first one is referencing episode 5 about boiling water. He said, does water in space Just instantly boil at any temperature, quote, unquote, because there's no atmospheric pressure.
Melissa:So Now I don't know anything about the temperature of space. Uh-huh. But if you boil water in a vacuum at room temperature or in a vacuum at any temperature Mhmm. It should boil immediately. Mhmm.
Melissa:If it's incredibly cold in space, which I think it is Mhmm.
Jam:There
Melissa:is a possibility that it could freeze.
Jam:Instead?
Melissa:Yeah. Just immediately freeze or boil and then It could go from the gas to the frozen, so I don't know how the temperature plays into that. Mhmm. But a 100%, water in a vacuum will boil instantly.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:As long as it's not also in freezing range.
Jam:Wanna hear something crazy? Yeah. That's, like, mind blowing, and I just connected it to something. Not I'm not making this up. In 2001 A Space Odyssey, the the book, I forget exactly what happens, but But and, actually, there's several books, but they talk about liquids boiling off when they're exposed to space, Immediately.
Jam:Instead of instead of, like, just turning into Crystal Smith like that. And I didn't quite ever get that. They would just say that, and they'd move on. They're They're supposedly pretty, for being sci fi, pretty accurate, but and they would just move on. They didn't take a lot of time to explain some of that stuff, and so I was like, what does that even mean?
Melissa:And now you know.
Jam:Now I know. It makes a lot of sense. There's no atmospheric pressure.
Melissa:Yeah. I mean, I think there'd be a lot of other things To play into that? Mhmm. Just do you put water in space and it just instantly dissipates because What's holding it together? Mhmm.
Melissa:I guess, interrelate air force is still but Mhmm. If you just put it in vacuum and we don't take all the other factors Right. If we just put it in a vacuum at room temperature, it would instantly boil.
Jam:Okay. Man, interesting.
Melissa:Good question, Steven.
Jam:Yes. Thank you, Steven. Steven's next question is regarding episode 6 about microwaves. You said, I've noticed that when boiling water in a microwave, it seems to cool faster Then when I boil water on the stovetop, is that just anecdotal? Is it only because I usually boil less water in the microwave?
Melissa:That's a great question, Steven. And it when I read this, I ended up talking to my colleague about it. But the answer is essentially, yes. We think that it's because you're boiling less water. So we haven't talked about this yet when we did the microwaves episode, but Just last week with foil, we talked about how something has less mass.
Melissa:The overall object has a lower heat capacity. So even though water has the same specific heat, whether you have 1 gram or 100 grams, it's gonna be more energy to heat up a whole pot of water than a little bowl of water. So that means less energy to come out. So it will cool faster. Ah.
Melissa:But we also speculated that it's likely because microwaves heat up water. Water absorbs microwaves. Mhmm. Hopefully, your dishes aren't doing that to the same extent that Metal would heat up if it was exposed to heat.
Jam:Oh, right.
Melissa:So your pot of water probably is Both more water, so it's more energy to take in and then give off. Mhmm. But also it's in a container that has been thoroughly heated as well.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:So we think it's Twofold.
Jam:K. So, Steven's next question is not a question. We have this next question is a statement regarding episode 7, I was intrigued by using sugar on roads, so I did a little digging. It turns out This has been tried in Switzerland. Yes.
Jam:It seemed like there were many benefits, but I don't know if they eventually switched for good. And then he actually gave a source on that Mhmm. Where he found that. So that's pretty awesome. We'll put that in the show notes as well so you guys can read that if you're interested.
Melissa:Yeah. It did seem I read it, and it seemed like there was a lot of benefits. But I looked up to try and see if there was any changes long term. And I got a lot of things about sugar factories in Switzerland and nothing about the roads. So I had a hard time finding any additional information.
Melissa:So If you are one of our listeners in Switzerland Uh-huh. Please hit us up with this information if you have it.
Jam:Yeah. And did it benefit, or was it just a ploy by the sugar industry To be more essential.
Melissa:It seemed beneficial to the environment. I thought that was cool.
Jam:Oh, okay.
Melissa:And to the I think it was more cost effective.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Oh, and it was less corrosive to
Jam:Vehicles.
Melissa:The workers and rust.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Yes. Because
Jam:the underside of your vehicles can get all gnarly. Wow. That is interesting.
Melissa:Oh, and while we're on the topic of better for the environment, My brother-in-law
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Happened to listen when you're talking about the sunscreen episode, And a coral expert was on the research vessel that he is the first mate on. Uh-huh. He lives a very cool life. And he said he believes, and I never actually was able to get in contact directly with a scientist, but he believes the reason that suns Some sunscreens are bad for the environment is because they can coat the coral and, therefore, block the UV rays from getting to the coral, and the coral can't photosynthesize and grow.
Jam:Woah. Because, yeah, some things want the UV. They don't wanna be blocked. Mhmm. Interesting.
Melissa:But I don't Know a 100% all the facts on that. So, again, if there's someone out there that knows more than we do about sunscreen, we'd love to hear more about when sunscreen is dangerous
Jam:for you. Mhmm. Yeah. Okay. The next question, is regarding episode 13 about sunscreen Also, this is from Autumn Kaye.
Jam:I wish y'all would have gone deeper into how the sunscreen dispels the energy's heat.
Melissa:So we talked about that very briefly in a earlier q and r. But, essentially and on the Green Fire episode, when Certain things absorb waves. The electrons are excited. And when the electrons come back down, they let off energy in the form of heat or light or whatever. So what's basically happening with the sunscreen, it is synthesized in such a way that it will absorb UV rays, And the electrons will be excited, and then they'll come back down and let off, due to the nature of the chemical, let off the energy and heat rather than light.
Melissa:That just is the way it works. That's the best explanation I can give in the time that we have.
Jam:That's cool. She wanted to know further Mhmm. What can
Melissa:I say? You're a little scientist.
Jam:The next question is doesn't seem to be attached to a specific episode, Is why does stainless steel help the garlic smell? And this came from 2 people, Abby and Melanie.
Melissa:Okay. This is interesting. So I dug into this when we were doing our onion episode, And, essentially, all the research came back as just anecdotal. There was no Rigorous peer reviewed experiments that I could find. Mhmm.
Melissa:There was quite a few citizen scientists going on adventures and looking into it. And So they the the stainless steel didn't seem to help the garlic smell when they just rubbed their hands on it. Uh-huh. But I had the same argument with my brother. I said, rubbing it on stainless steel doesn't help.
Melissa:And he said, try rubbing it on stainless steel under running water specifically. And I did that, and it does seem to work for me, and it totally I know.
Jam:That's so strange.
Melissa:Nobody else ever tested that that I'm aware of that way where it's under the running water. And all the ones I saw, unless they didn't note it, they just rubbed their hands on that. And I hate garlic smell on my fingers. Uh-huh. Hate it.
Melissa:Yeah. It drives me nuts. And rubbing My finger is on. We have a stainless steel sink, so I rub it on the sink under running water Mhmm. And it works every time.
Melissa:And I don't know if this is anecdotal or not, But it did not work when I didn't do it under Running Water. That's
Jam:crazy. I've kinda had my own solution for this because of how strong, I feel like garlic is very culinarily strong, too much so. Mhmm. So I just use it less. Just kinda, like, avoided it.
Jam:You know?
Melissa:I started to buy those minced garlic pre minced Yes.
Jam:Yeah. That's what we do. That's really what we do. That's our actual solution.
Melissa:But you really need more of that than it says to give the same experience.
Jam:Yes. That's true.
Melissa:So that's all I have for you, Abby and Melanie. If you, ladies, would like to go out and do some vigilante science of your own and do some experiments, then I have some suspicions as to why it may or may not work.
Jam:Mhmm. Do it.
Melissa:Okay. So I think now we're gonna switch into me asking you questions.
Jam:Yeah. Apparently, there are some Questions that aren't really sciency. So I'm like, okay. That's not sciency. That's kind of my area.
Jam:I'm just kidding.
Melissa:Also, this is a fun Thanksgiving episode, so I thought some of these questions about You and us would be fun.
Jam:Okay. I'm I'm game. I'm ready.
Melissa:Okay. Renee c says, Jam is definitely smarter than me. He remembers a lot. Does he take notes on the episodes?
Jam:That's a really great question, Renee. I'm not smarter than you, at all. And I I I don't really know you very well, but I'm definitely not smarter than you. So I don't take notes At all? Mm-mm.
Melissa:I can confirm.
Jam:Yeah. I don't say not at all. It might be a good idea, except that it would seem a little bit Unfair to some degree. And so it wasn't a conscious decision to not do it. It just seemed like it was more the average Joe Approach to just listen to Melissa teach about the lesson each time, and then just try my hardest to focus on each thing she says And try to regurgitate it the best way I can.
Jam:But you will notice sometimes in my explanations back to Melissa, I get things wrong. Nothing like Completely opposite wrong, but sometimes I have a kinda confused sound to my voice
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And then she corrects or affirms or whatever. So it's not like I come back to the explanation with perfect confidence. When it happens off air that does help me is that because I'm editing the episodes, Content from previous episodes Mhmm. Then gets kinda ingrained in my mind a little bit better because I have to go listen to it and edit it Yeah. After we record.
Jam:So Right. Some of that stuff gets baked in a little bit better than so that it's kinda unfair advantage compared to You guys who probably wouldn't wanna listen to an episode more than once unless you really loved it.
Melissa:You listened to each episode 2 or 3 times.
Jam:Right? Yeah. Before it's before it's aired. So, so that might explain what you're seeing. And I'm not smarter than you.
Jam:So
Melissa:Okay. And then we have 2 from Nikki in.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:1st, does Jam have a job yet?
Jam:I do not have a traditional job yet. I have some, what you referenced, I think, in the most previous episode. I've had some gigs, you might call them, some freelance work With a local nonprofit and then some other freelance work that that I've been doing with a company in the UK Online. And then, a couple prospects that are more local that might be More regular work, but all kinda in the freelance zone. That's where I'm at at the moment.
Jam:So not nothing landed in terms of, like, a very traditional job, But I think that might I might be cool with that. Yeah. So I'm kind of feeling that out and see what it turns out.
Melissa:See what life as a freelancer is like.
Jam:Yeah. But thank you for asking. If anyone else is wondering, sorry for lack of update on that. But, Nikki, thanks so much for asking about that.
Melissa:She said, I haven't heard any updates from him for a while, so she had been wondering. The other feedback from Nikki in is actually a question, not What?
Jam:That's a question.
Melissa:Actually a comment, not a question. Uh-huh. And hers was, the baby hold that Jam mentioned his niece likes is called the ball hold, not to be confused with the football nursing position.
Jam:Nikki, you can, You can keep your sports propaganda to yourself. Alright? Call it what you want, but it's not called that when I do it.
Melissa:I'll tell
Jam:you that much.
Melissa:Jim hates sports. He secretly likes them, but he hates he pretends to hate them.
Jam:I I don't like them, and football is kinda the chief among them. It's easier one to to have issues with.
Melissa:So Well, Anne Nicky in is a mom, if you couldn't tell from that little comment. And her baby, Odessa, is often caught listening to Kim for your life.
Jam:That's true. Yeah. We did we did get a, I think, like, a, Instagram story mentioned from her Mhmm. Where she was listening to it and so was her baby as they're hanging out. So
Melissa:Thanks, Nikki.
Jam:Thanks, Nikki. But yeah. But in all seriousness, I will never call it that.
Melissa:Okay. Before we wrap up, I did wanna do 1 more listener shout out in addition to Odessa and Nikki, and that would be for Jacob d. Jacob gave us a recommendation for the onions episode. He suggested that not knowing that we had already recorded that episode, but it hadn't aired yet.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So we were sad that we couldn't give him a shout out on the actual Onions episode, so we wanted to retroactively shout him out. Yeah. Thank him for his recommendation and his kind email. Your episode's up, friend.
Jam:Yeah. It's up. And in a normal situation because we recorded that one, like, a little bit more ahead than normal. Mhmm. In a normal situation, he might have suggested it Before you'd recorded it?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Before we had recorded it?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Before we had recorded it? Yikes. Let's just leave it.
Melissa:And Okay. I'm sorry.
Jam:It's okay.
Melissa:Go ahead. I'm ready.
Jam:And
Melissa:Oh, I thought it was so funny. Reporting is like your job. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Melissa:Happy Thanksgiving. Alright.
Jam:Yeah. Anyway, so you you he might have been the one to actually suggest it or been told we could have shouted out during it.
Melissa:So Yes. We are very rarely as far ahead as we were before Jam went to New Zealand. So
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That's the only reason he didn't catch us beforehand.
Jam:Yes. But thank you. And it's a really good idea. I mean, The fact that a few people have recommended it, including you, Jacob, says a lot about it. So thank you so much for for thinking of very applicable, very everyday, relatable, Interesting chemistry questions that are good and are perfect for the podcast.
Melissa:Yeah. Keep them coming, guys. Thanks so much. We love hearing from you. We get so excited.
Melissa:We can see on the map who's listening and where they are, but it's so much more fun when we actually get to interact with individuals who are learning and benefiting and excited about this show.
Jam:So Melissa and I have a lot of ideas for topics of chemistry in everyday life, but we do wanna hear from you. So if you have questions or ideas, you can reach out to us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at chem for your life. That's chem, f o r, your life, to share thoughts and ideas. And if you enjoy this podcast, you can subscribe on your favorite podcast app. And if you really like it, then you can write a review on Apple Podcasts.
Jam:That helps us to share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and Jam Robinson. Jim Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to a and in Newell who reviewed this episode. Thanks for listening to our Extra special Thanksgiving q on our episode, and I hope you guys all have a great day.
Jam:Eat some good food and enjoy time with friends or family or whatever you're doing.
Melissa:And stay safe on travels or even staying at home.
Jam:Yeah. Absolutely. Bye, guys. Bye.