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Tums, alka seltzer, and other antacids: they're simple, they've been around for a long time, but they're a tried and true method for helping our stomachs. But how do they work? What's the chemistry behind these unsung heroes?
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Tums, alka seltzer, and other antacids: they're simple, they've been around for a long time, but they're a tried and true method for helping our stomachs. But how do they work? What's the chemistry behind these unsung heroes?
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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.
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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, Jam. For some reason, I expected you to say bonus edition. Okay, Jam. Today, we are gonna be talking about shout out to my new coworker, Adrianna c
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Who gave me this idea.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:She asked if we could do an episode on the chemistry of Tums.
Jam:Tums.
Melissa:But I'm gonna expand it to all the antacid family.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And part of why I'm gonna do that is because I had a friend in grad school who loved Alka Seltzer.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:But so she loved Alka Seltzer. She'd take it anytime her stomach was upset. And I read the ingredients once and was confused used by one of the ingredients.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:And I think I figured out why it's in there today. So that's why I'm kind of excited to do today's episode.
Jam:Okay. I don't I don't know much about antacids. I feel like I've known that word forever. But one thing that to me is strange is, like, at least Alka Seltzer Mhmm. To me seems really old school.
Jam:Yeah. Tom's is kinda current. Like, it's it's evergreen. To me, it feels like people still use that. But the idea of throwing some, you know, alga seltzer into a glass, and that's like old movies, and that kind of associate with, like, my grandparents.
Jam:Like, I don't know. There's something about it that, at least in my experience, seems like kinda outdated, but I don't know why.
Melissa:I don't think it is outdated. I mean, it doesn't seem outdated to me, but that's because I had a roommate in grad school who used it
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Twice a week probably, which was probably more than she should have. Right. I
Jam:mean, I've never used it. I've never once Add Alka Seltzer.
Melissa:I've used Alka Seltzer, but I don't use it for if my stomach is is upset. I've used it. There's Alka Seltzer cold medicine that I've used.
Jam:And do you ever use it just because it looks cool when you Drop it in?
Melissa:No. But there is a conversation about that coming up in this episode.
Jam:Okay. Nice.
Melissa:Okay. So are you ready?
Jam:Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Melissa:You just need a little time to get there? Yeah. Okay. So 1st, before we talk about this, we're gonna kind of review something, which is what is an acid?
Jam:Okay. There's
Melissa:a few definitions of acid, but the most basic one
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:The def that definition of an acid is something that generates protons.
Jam:Did you get why I was laughing? No. There's lots of definitions of an acid, but the most basic one
Melissa:Oh, I get it. That That was an accident. I'm really earnestly trying to teach you, not make puns over here.
Jam:Sorry. I'm, like, looking out for them, And then I just was thinking no. That's funny. That's a purpose.
Melissa:I guess the simplest one. The one they teach you first in chemistry.
Jam:Got it. Got it.
Melissa:I'm, like,
Jam:in the zone. Alright.
Melissa:This definition, and that's Something that generates protons.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So a proton, there's protons in every atom.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But in hydrogen specifically, instead of having protons, neutrons, and electrons
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Which make up most atoms, All that's in hydrogen, the atom, is 1 proton and 1 electron. Okay. So if hydrogen loses its electron, It just becomes a proton floating around.
Jam:Oh, weird.
Melissa:I know. It's just a positively charged particle, essentially. Yeah. So the most common way to represent a proton is just h plus to denote as a hydrogen atom that's lost electron.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Leaving behind just a proton.
Jam:I think in the past, you've also said acids are very, like, positive, and they want because that's not what they want to be, but they are that. They want some electrons.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:They want to kinda balance back out.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:So they are hungry for electrons?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Okay. Okay. I'll try to connect that to some of the other lessons we've had
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:About Acids and stuff like that.
Melissa:And we'll talk about that in when we talk about what the antacids are doing.
Jam:Okay. Okay. Cool.
Melissa:Okay. So when we eat, Our stomach produces acid. Mhmm. It triggers this release of acid, and it's to help break down food, But also, it triggers some enzymes that only work in a certain range of acidity. Mhmm.
Melissa:So you have to have that acid in your stomach to accomplish both of those
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:When we eat, acid is released in the form of protons into our stomach. There's also Because it's positively charged, sometimes there's chlorine atoms also Mhmm. That are negatively charged, chlorine ions
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That are released. So sometimes people will say it's hydrochloric acid in your stomach.
Jam:Oh, I see.
Melissa:But In its natural form, the hydrogen and the chloride, they're not together.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:It's h pluses by itself, and then there's c l minus floating around also.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:They kind of exist in a disassociated state.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So we're gonna focus just on the Protons that are floating around, the h plus.
Jam:H plus. Got it.
Melissa:Okay. So when you eat, your stomach triggers a release of these protons. Well, I guess your body triggers the release of these protons into your stomach.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:They're all floating around, and they're trying to help you digest everything.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But if you eat too much, You could have too much acid in your stomach.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Or something that happens to me a lot because I love Acidic food like tomatoes and limes. Mhmm. Love ceviche. Love tacos with a bunch of lime juice on top. I'm a lime kind of a girl.
Melissa:Uh-huh. Your stomach can have too much acid because you've ingest it, and it's pumping acid out.
Jam:Got it. Got it. Got it.
Melissa:So what by whatever means, if you have too much acid in your stomach, that can damage your stomach lining
Jam:Mhmm. Which is
Melissa:A mucous membrane, which kinda grows, but it has a more neutral acidity. Mhmm. So it's pretty amazing that it doesn't just get destroyed constantly.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Reading my I think it's my biochemistry textbook to prepare for this episode, I read that your stomach lining is fully renewed every few days.
Jam:Oh, wow.
Melissa:That's how quickly those cells turn over to to keep going. When I mean, they're in contact with hydrochloric acid, basically, which is Intense. You would not touch that with your finger.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:It would burn you. It'd hurt really bad.
Jam:That thing. Interesting.
Melissa:So it's pretty impressive that we can just handle that. It's also why when people say really extremes such as, oh, you never wanna do this or you always wanna do this. One of those extremes would be you never wanna touch acid, but you have acid in your stomach all the time.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. You're always touching acid, sort of.
Melissa:Yes. Exactly. So there's this subtlety to chemistry that, you know? This kinda brings out that I appreciate. So, anyway, this is going on in your stomach.
Melissa:And if you have too much, it can damage that stomach lining. And that happened to me. My stomach lining was damaged, and they call it indigestion. And I could feel when the food hit my stomach, could feel the burn start from the top of it and then expand to cover my whole stomach. And then as it went into the rest of my digestive tract, the burning would go away.
Jam:Oh, interesting.
Melissa:I'd only ever met other people who'd experienced heartburn, and that wasn't the right symptoms for heartburn.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:Because what happens with heartburn is that Overflow of acid comes back up through your esophagus.
Jam:Right. So you kinda feel it up here.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So there's kind of just For the people at home, when he said up here, he was pointing at the top of his chest.
Jam:I thought of that rash. I was like, yeah. But kinda where your heart is, you know,
Melissa:up here. Yes. Exactly. So those are the 2 ways people experience negative symptoms from too much acid in their stomachs. Mhmm.
Melissa:Usually, it's heartburn or it's a burning stomach.
Jam:Got it. So if I've ever experienced either of those, am I superhuman in some way? You probably just have
Melissa:a good digestive system.
Jam:Nice. I'll take it.
Melissa:Bad digestive systems run-in my family. So
Jam:So, I mean so it's kinda is like a superpower to have
Melissa:Or maybe the rest of us are just subhuman power.
Jam:Mhmm. Okay.
Melissa:And you're just highly functioning at The way you should be power.
Jam:Yeah. I mean, I'll take if I had to choose some superpowers, I would pick this one. If I had to, like, If if if pigs in the house meant that I didn't have a good digestive system, I think I'd pick it.
Melissa:Yeah. If I could pick a superpower, it would be to Eat as a hobby instead of eating to survive.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:But I have wondered if that would take away some of the joy when you're really hungry.
Jam:Yeah. Because if you're eating as
Melissa:a hobby, you never would get really hungry.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Yeah. But it'd be so convenient. I wouldn't have to pack lunch.
Jam:I wouldn't have to meal prep. I could only eat when I felt like it. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:So you know?
Jam:Yeah. 100%.
Melissa:Okay. We're doesn't
Jam:really sound like a power, but, yeah, I get it.
Melissa:We're well off topic. But so To come back Uh-huh. When you have those negative symptoms from too much acid in your stomach, acid coming back up your your esophagus Mhmm. Then you take an antacid.
Jam:Okay. Right.
Melissa:Which is supposed to counteract the effects of an acid. What you're taking is just a base. Okay. And this base There's a few different definitions of a base, but one that I think works really well here is it's something that is going to have enough electrons to react with your proton. Mhmm.
Melissa:So it's gonna give electrons to your acid, which will then form a new molecule.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. We've talked about this before when we talked about cakes.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:An acid and a base reacts from your baking powder or baking soda. It forms A more neutral product and what else? Do you remember?
Jam:It was carbon dioxide?
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Mhmm. Yeah.
Melissa:So it aryexta form first, carbonic acid
Jam:Uh-huh. Which is h 2 c o three. Uh-huh.
Melissa:And that will further break down to h two o and c o two.
Jam:Right. I I remembered the h two o part also somehow. Maybe that's because it was one of our earlier episodes, so I didn't have quite as much chemistry knowledge knocking around in there. But
Melissa:And I I rearranged it for you. I out the hydrogen and carbon and oxygen and showed
Jam:you how
Melissa:it moves around to get it.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:Yep. So that could be part of it too. So the same thing essentially happens when you take an antacid. You're doing Oh. Baking soda, baking powder reaction or the volcano and baking soda reaction.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:You're doing that in your stomach. So if you chew a Tums, the main ingredient in Tums is calcium carbonate.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:The carbonate is c o 3.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:It can bond with 2 protons.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Meaning, it makes h two c o three. Okay. It's negatively charged before it finds the protons. Once it finds the protons, those negative charges are neutralized.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:The h two c o three breaks down into h two o and c o two. K. Which means it's taking these positive charges, The acid in your stomach that's making things feel really bad
Jam:Mhmm. And
Melissa:it's just turned it into Some salt. We didn't talk about that. There's some salt byproducts in there. Some water and some gas.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And that's it.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:It is interesting. Now have you, Well, you haven't taken 1. But for people who have taken these, they'll know that one of the way that your pain seems to be relieved is also you start to belch. You can burp up gas. So part of that is you may have already had some gas from the food breaking down in there, but When your reaction happens between the acid and the base, which is a very quick reaction, it happens as soon as that base hits your stomach, The carbon dioxide is formed, and then that triggers you to belch.
Melissa:So it will relieve some of the other gas as well.
Jam:Got it. Got it.
Melissa:Okay. So the acid and the base combine essentially to make neutral byproducts. Taking the very acidic thing in your stomach and the basic thing that you swallowed Mhmm. And turning them into neutral and relieving your pain.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Does that make sense?
Jam:Yes. It does.
Melissa:Okay. Do you wanna take a stab at telling that back to me, and then we can talk about the magic of Alka Seltzer?
Jam:Yes. I love to. So in our stomachs, when we are experiencing The symptoms of stomach ache, or heartburn, something like that that Mhmm. Would fall in the category of Too much acid Yep. In our stomach?
Jam:In order to balance that out, we need to introduce a base.
Melissa:Yep.
Jam:The acid in our stomach is this positively charged like, this h plus. Mhmm. Does not have electrons. Just this h plus floating around.
Melissa:No electrons. It's sad.
Jam:And then also, is the chlorine Positive charge also or just the hydrogen?
Melissa:Chlorine is negatively charged. So it exists as the hydrogen has sort of given you could think of it has given up its electrons to the chlorine. So the chlorine has stole them
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:And is hanging out in there.
Jam:So we take a Tums or whatever it is. Mhmm. It's a base. An antacid is a base, which as we ingest it, introduces Mhmm. Electrons that can be Given to these electronless
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Hydrogen
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Molecules and atoms. And then that reaction, one, gives electrons to them as they want. Mhmm. And also creates These neutral, I guess, results or byproducts at the
Melissa:same time. Mhmm. Yes.
Jam:One of them being h two o or water. Mhmm. Or the and the other one being CO 2, carbon dioxide
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Which is a gas. Mhmm. And we start to kind of Burp it up Mhmm. As that reaction's happening.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And then slowly, the sort of pH of our stomach starts to get back into a normal
Melissa:realm. Range. Yep.
Jam:That does not That is painful.
Melissa:Yep. Discomfort. That's exactly right.
Jam:Sweet.
Melissa:I will say, I know that the chlorine ions And the hydrogen ions, the the protons
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Are introduced into the stomach in separate mechanisms.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So I don't know for sure if this happens, but I think there might could be an excess of the of the protons. Mhmm. Or I think In nature, when you have hydrochloric acid, it exists in the, quote, unquote, disassociated state.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So they're not really Interested in recombining with the chlorine to neutral it's not gonna neutralize it back out the same way it does with the carb carbonic acid or with a carbonate to create carbonic acid.
Jam:Okay. Got it.
Melissa:Okay. So you got it. That's it. That's How antacids there, it's basically you're doing the volcano reaction in your stomach.
Jam:Yeah. That's crazy to think about it. They're doing the same thing. Because obviously because it's like seeing the volcano reaction seems as something you don't wanna be seeing in your stomach. Like, if you're if you're to say, like, hey.
Jam:I want that to happen in your stomach. It kinda be like, no. I don't think that sounds like a good idea.
Melissa:I know. I try to think of an a good analogy, and the best thing I could come up with was is almost as if the protons are angry because they don't have the electrons, and so they're doing damage.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Yeah. Messing things up, and then they get this basic comes in and calms them down, and they stop messing around and messing things up.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:But it did that didn't really help with the visualizing of the electrons moving, so I just kinda, you know, gave up on it.
Jam:It's like all the h plus atoms or whatever are like a kid that doesn't have a toy.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And they're just like I mean, one thing is good about a kid having toys. They have something To do. They have to make their attention on. All these kids are just, like, running around your stomach, bored to death. Mhmm.
Jam:Mad because they don't have a toy. Yep. They're just Messing stuff up.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:For instance, like, my son, we just have a toy. We'll do things like, you know, take Kleenex out of the Kleenex box and tear them up. Stuff Something that has tons of extra toys Mhmm. To give. And then all these kids become happy, nondestructive
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Versions.
Melissa:Because you need them in there just like children. You need them in the world. You need acidity in your stomach for your digestive system to go.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm. So you
Melissa:don't wanna cancel it out completely.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:You just want it to stop going crazy.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:Yeah. And that's why although you could just probably take baking soda and mix it up in water and drink some of that, and you don't have to take the antacid, I wouldn't mess with that because I don't know the dosage that you really hate when you slice it out. You know?
Jam:Right. Right. Right.
Melissa:Plus, if you take a Tums, they're chewy and tastes like fruit flavors.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Okay. So Now here's the mystery, and I wanna see if you can think of what is happening here.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Alka Seltzer still has the base. Mhmm. It also has aspirin, Which is nice. Like, if you're experiencing pain, it will help relieve some of that with the aspirin. Uh-huh.
Melissa:But it also has citric acid.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:As an active ingredient, which has always been weird to me because why would you put acid in a base that you're trying to neutralize your stomach with. Yeah. So can you come up with something that you think that would be there for?
Jam:Okay. So one thing that seems different to me about Alka Seltzer
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Is that you put it in water. Mhmm. And you're not just Eating it like Tums.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:So it seems like maybe that might be why you'd want The other ingredient, but I'm trying to think of why you're putting into something somewhat neutral, but it does start to react.
Melissa:It does start to
Jam:You start to see the bubbles happening.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:So clearly, erection starts before you've even ingested any of it.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Is that somewhere in there?
Melissa:That's it.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So they put the acid in with the base to Make the carbon dioxide. The same thing that's happening in your stomach
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Is happening in front of your eyeballs
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Before you even drink it. And it's to make that drink bubblier.
Jam:Mhmm. Okay.
Melissa:Which one makes it tastier? Mhmm. Citric acid also is something that makes lemons and lime sour, so it can give it a little bit of a lemony taste, I think, or it's just a soury taste.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And The bubbliness of it can help disperse the aspirin throughout the solution so that you are More quickly getting that into your bloodstream.
Jam:Oh, nice. Okay. Wow.
Melissa:At least that's what I read on the Alka Seltzer website, so hopefully that's accurate.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:Yeah. I thought that was interesting, but I also thought it gives you this bubbly drink that I would rather have that than just The powder mixed into water.
Jam:Yeah. Totally. Yeah.
Melissa:You know? So that's the difference with the Alka Seltzer is it once the reaction happened 4 Mhmm. It gets into your body.
Jam:Got it. Got it.
Melissa:But then there's enough excess base that it still reacts when it gets your body. Mhmm. It's not like you're making the problem worse. The citric acid is well overwhelmed by the amount of base in the
Jam:Okay. Cool. Cool.
Melissa:But, also, when I was researching this, there was a Reddit thread where someone asked if you could use Alka Seltzer to make your flat soda bubbly again.
Jam:Oh, interesting. What'd they say?
Melissa:Well, you know, it's just a person asking if you could do it, what people's thoughts are. And my professional opinion is I think you could because all that Flat soda is missing truly is the carbonation, I think.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So I think it would work, but then you'd also have the weird flavor that comes along with that. It's not just you know, there's excess of the base in there.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:Into and The citric acid maybe has a little bit of a flavor. And who knows if they have other things to make it flavored, how that would negatively impact your beverage. Mhmm. And you'd be drinking aspirin regularly when you shouldn't.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:But I feel like if you just wanted to try it and see, that would be kind of a fun experiment. So
Jam:we have, like, those lemon lime seltzers?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:I wonder what happen if you even if before it's like, so it's still carbonated when it's not flat yet. You added 1. What would
Melissa:Well, I think they carbonate to a point where it is really carbonated.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:Like, As much air as you can dissolves in a lot of those. Mhmm. So it probably wouldn't make it much more carbonated, I don't think.
Jam:I
Melissa:think the bubbles would probably just escape because there is a level of gas that can dissolve in your solution. At some point, it stops. Yeah. But I think if you let it go flat and then put it in there, it could put the bubbles back in.
Jam:Got it. Interesting.
Melissa:I think.
Jam:If you do it with something like that that's, like, flavored that way, it might not is weird of a flavor. Yeah. Like, the citric acid might not be that weird with, like, a lemon lime seltzer.
Melissa:But but you don't wanna just take aspirin when you don't need it.
Jam:Right. 100%. I'm not curious enough to do that when I don't need it, but I am Yeah. Just theoretically curious.
Melissa:Theoretically, I'm curious. Like, should we take some flat Doctor Pepper, throw in Alka Seltzer in, and just take, like, a sip?
Jam:Yeah. I think maybe so.
Melissa:Chemistry at home. So that is your chemistry lesson for this week. It's all about the chemistry of antacids and how they release Your sad stomach pain.
Jam:Dude, very cool.
Melissa:Well, in another antidote to sad things
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Not sad acid y stomachs, but Sad weeks. Did you have a happy week? Is there something fun you could share with us?
Jam:Yes. So this one's not about me per se, but it does affect me
Melissa:Okay.
Jam:Which is that my wife recently got a new job.
Melissa:Yay. She
Jam:definitely got it already, but she will not start for, like, several more weeks.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:But the good news about it is it's just a little better for our schedules right now, and that's worth being excited about. Is this gonna be part of the same, you know, same medical, Like, system or whatever that she put apart. She's kinda more, like, transferring.
Melissa:Not a big financial change or anything like that.
Jam:No huge changes other than just the fact that schedule wise, we, at least right now, Our hypothesis, chemistry, science, you know, is that it will be better for our schedules. Could we Take turns watching our son, and neither of us we both work, and then we both watch him, and we don't do day care. So it's like Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it's a delicate balance, and we're hoping that it will be better.
Jam:So
Melissa:That is very exciting.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And maybe I'll see her more too.
Jam:Yes. Maybe.
Melissa:That's always my help.
Jam:Yeah. Me too, actually. I also like when I see her more
Melissa:and when
Jam:you see her more.
Melissa:Yes. Both of those are good things.
Jam:So that's mine. What about you?
Melissa:Well, mine's also about a new thing. Nice. But it's not about a new job.
Jam:Okay. Cool.
Melissa:I got I inherited hand me down Uh-huh. Shelves from a friend.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:She was moving out, and we were moving in. Had these shelves. We haven't done anything with them.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And we finally hung them up in our living room.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:I also figured out a shelf solution for a different area of our home. It's not really closet, but it's a weird inlet between a bathroom and a
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Bedroom. I don't know. It just is a weird space.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And we're gonna be able to make our own shelves and put them up there. Nice. Because my husband's really good at woodworking. Uh-huh.
Jam:And we'll be able to display all of our beloved books there. Nice.
Melissa:And of an opportunity to declutter, so that's always exciting.
Jam:Nice. Yes. That is always exciting.
Melissa:So mine's all about new shelves. Nice. They look really cute in our house. I get to put plants all over them, which is because they were overrunning other spaces in our home.
Jam:Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Melissa:It's gonna be perfect.
Jam:Nice. Nice.
Melissa:So, yay, new jobs, new shelves.
Jam:Yes. Very cool.
Melissa:Yeah. So I'm really excited. I also was very excited to do this episode with you guys today and to finally figure out why there's acid in Alka Seltzer. So thanks so much for coming and learning to you, Jim, and to all of our listeners for learning about how What antacids do in your stomach?
Jam:And thank you for teaching us and for sort of unlocking the mystery of 1, acids in there, which I did not even know is a thing, into just a general sense of how we can help not have upset stomachs. So that's awesome. And if you have any ideas or questions or thoughts or whatever of potential chemistry episode ideas, please don't hesitate to reach out to us On Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at If you like to help us keep our show going and continue to cover the cost of making it, go to kodashfi.com/chem for your life, and donate the cost Have a cup of coffee. If you're not able to donate, you can still help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app and rating and writing a review on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us to share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Colini and Jam Robinson. References for this episode could be found in our show notes or on our website. Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to and v Garza who reviewed this episode.