Bonus: Does elevation affect airbags? (and other questions)

Show Notes

Bonus Episode: Question and Response 24

In this month's bonus episode, Melissa and Jam respond to comments and questions about breathalyzers, high fructose corn syrup, candles, airbags, and more!

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What is Chemistry For Your Life?

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.

Melissa: 00:11

Hey. I'm Melissa.

Jam: 00:12

I'm Jam.

Melissa: 00:13

And I'm a chemist.

Jam: 00:14

And I'm not.

Melissa: 00:15

And welcome to chemistry for your life.

Jam: 00:16

The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life bonus edition.

Melissa: 00:22

I was hoping you wouldn't remember rats.

Jam: 00:24

You can do it if you want to.

Melissa: 00:26

Bonus edition times 2. That's right. I'm so excited. We have lots of good questions from 2 of our staple question askers, Anthony and Steven Yes. This week.

Jam: 00:38

Awesome. Would you get into it?

Melissa: 00:40

Let's get into it. Let's do it.

Jam: 00:42

Okay. 1st question from Anthony c is in regards to the breathalyzer episode.

Melissa: 00:50

Mhmm. So

Jam: 00:51

he said, I don't think you ever said that explicitly, but does gaining an oxygen Make it lose an electron.

Melissa: 00:58

Okay. So I think what Anthony is talking about here is When I talked about oxidation being increasing number of bonds to carbon, but the traditional definition is oxidation is losing electrons.

Jam: 01:12

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Melissa: 01:13

Oxidation is losing. Reduction is gaining electrons. Mhmm. So he asked, you know, does that still happen? Are you still losing the electrons.

Melissa: 01:21

And, technically, no. You're not losing them fully. Uh-huh. But oxygens have really Strong electronegativity, which means they're good at pulling the electrons towards themselves.

Jam: 01:32

Mhmm.

Melissa: 01:33

So if 2 atoms are trying to share electrons, Oxygen does not share evenly. 1 person each gets 1 electron. It's more like oxygen takes all the electrons for itself and leaves a little bit of a positive behind.

Jam: 01:48

Okay.

Melissa: 01:49

So the answer is sort of Loses an electron. It loses electron density.

Jam: 01:55

Mhmm. Okay. Interesting.

Melissa: 01:58

Okay. So that's my answer to that.

Jam: 02:00

Anthony's next question is, what is in the plain corn syrup that isn't high fructose?

Melissa: 02:09

So I looked this up. I just googled quickly, and it seems like Karo corn syrup that they sell on shelves is sometimes also called glucose Glucose syrup because it's made almost entirely of glucose.

Jam: 02:22

Interesting.

Melissa: 02:23

So I think that would mean it would be less bad for your body

Jam: 02:27

Mhmm.

Melissa: 02:27

Because it's not the kind that processes in your liver.

Jam: 02:30

Mhmm.

Melissa: 02:31

But my friend Amber said to me recently after listening to this Episode, bring back the fiber. So I still think that glucose needs to be mixed in with fiber. Uh-huh. I also he asked about and I don't know a ton about this, but I do know that glucose content has something to do with glycemic index, which is About how much it raises or lowers your blood sugar, but I don't know a ton about it.

Jam: 02:53

Okay. Interesting. Our next question from inquisitive listener, Steven h is is the initial 42% 58% split of high fructose corn syrup with the, like, fructose and the glucose content

Melissa: 03:10

Right. Right.

Jam: 03:11

Actually healthier than table sugar?

Melissa: 03:14

So I think healthy is a bold word, but I do think higher glucose content is going to have less negative effects on your body, all things equal.

Jam: 03:23

Mhmm. K.

Melissa: 03:24

But I still think the main idea is to reduce your sugar intake of any kind and increase your fiber intake

Jam: 03:32

Mhmm. Okay.

Melissa: 03:33

Along with it. So So that's a good question. And, yeah, I think so. I do think the original split is going to have less negative impacts, but Healthier is a bold. A bold, the word?

Melissa: 03:44

Yeah. Yeah. This is fun. I really enjoyed all these sugar questions.

Jam: 03:47

Yeah. He has another one that his next question is also about that. How does the balance of fructose and glucose affect the taste?

Melissa: 03:55

So there is a sweetness index

Jam: 03:57

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 03:57

That identifies how sweet different things Taste to us, and sucrose is 1. It's it's given a value of 1. Glucose is a little below, and fructose is a little above. So I don't know how it impacts the taste, but it definitely would impact the sweetness.

Jam: 04:12

Okay.

Melissa: 04:12

And I don't remember if I talked about this in the episode, but I even learned that, Theoretically, you could use less high fructose corn syrup, so you're taking in less sugar

Jam: 04:22

Mhmm. To

Melissa: 04:22

get the same amount of sweetness. But they didn't really do that. Instead, they just made things sweeter and sweeter. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa: 04:27

So that's kind of a bummer. But theoretically, you could use less of the Ivory Coast corn syrup to get a similar sweetness.

Jam: 04:34

Mhmm. Interesting.

Melissa: 04:37

And that means that I think that carol corn syrup would taste less sweet a little bit than table sugar.

Jam: 04:43

Right. Right. Okay. Guess who asked our next question?

Melissa: 04:47

Steven h.

Jam: 04:48

Yep. Steven h again.

Melissa: 04:49

Here's the thing. Steven h asks questions that are really good for a q and r. They're About the questions we or topics we've already talked about, they're ones I usually can answer pretty quickly. Uh-huh. So they just lend themselves well.

Melissa: 05:03

So thanks, Steven, for your questions.

Jam: 05:05

Yeah.

Melissa: 05:05

A lot of other people ask questions that are much better for episode length. Yeah. Which even the BPA question, that, You know, that came out of a listener question. So

Jam: 05:14

Totally. So this is more switching gears to about candles. What effects does wick length have on the candle's combustion reaction? What's the purpose of trimming the wick in quotes?

Melissa: 05:28

Okay. I just quickly Googled this because I didn't know the answer to that. And the Google search came back with it helps control the amount of fuel. Mhmm. And that makes sense because it does determine how much of the liquid is getting sucked up into the wick before it's vaporized.

Melissa: 05:46

So if you had more wick, you'd have more room

Jam: 05:49

Mhmm. For

Melissa: 05:49

that to happen. So I think controlling the amount of fuel then would minimize the amount of soot And then also could make the candle burn more evenly.

Jam: 05:58

Mhmm.

Melissa: 05:58

So that makes sense. But, also, I've never trimmed a wick, and I've also never had a problem. Sometimes I'll knock off those carbonized edges.

Jam: 06:05

Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. I don't think I've ever done that either. But I also didn't know anything about candles until we talked about it.

Jam: 06:12

I get a 90 about the chemistry, but I just let it be and never really mess with it.

Melissa: 06:18

Yeah. You know? I do think if enough of the wax got vaporized in those candles that kind of are almost like bowl shaped

Jam: 06:25

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Melissa: 06:25

Or that kind of come in close at the top, That could be a problem. Mhmm. But I don't I don't know for sure if the wick would impact that.

Jam: 06:34

Yeah.

Melissa: 06:34

I just could imagine Vapor building up on top of the I have one that's kinda dome shaped. It's the volcano candle that's really good. Uh-huh. But it kind of has a wider base and a smaller opening, and I could see some vapor building up there. Interesting.

Jam: 06:50

I don't know. Yeah. Then his next question goes back to the, airbag episode. Does elevation affect Airbag inflation significantly? Are they potentially more or less effective in the mountains versus at sea level?

Melissa: 07:07

This is a great question, and I couldn't find any information about it. Uh-huh. I would think This is a great question, Steven. I was so excited because air pressure impacts the volume a gas takes up. Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:21

If you have less Air pressure, it's gonna take up more volume. If you have higher air pressure, it would take up less volume.

Jam: 07:28

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:29

So I would think that would impact it.

Jam: 07:33

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 07:34

But I couldn't find any information. So my best guess is The really smart people who figured out how to get it to inflate and deflate in just a matter of seconds

Jam: 07:42

Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:43

Also likely Figured out how to have some computers or sensors detect the atmospheric pressure and account for

Jam: 07:53

that. Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:55

Because even on hotter versus colder days, I think that would impact the air volume.

Jam: 07:59

Yeah.

Melissa: 08:00

So that's my guess.

Jam: 08:03

Yeah. That's interesting.

Melissa: 08:05

But that's a great question.

Jam: 08:06

Yeah. Seriously. I mean, certainly, would be one of the things we probably would find out quickly.

Melissa: 08:11

Yeah.

Jam: 08:12

Because, you know, if they'd put out airbags and then people in the mountains were having, like, way higher rates of

Melissa: 08:19

Yes. I don't know.

Jam: 08:20

So, anyway, I think that seems like something that they would have had to think about.

Melissa: 08:24

Yeah. It does seem like that.

Jam: 08:26

Yeah.

Melissa: 08:27

But I couldn't find any information on it, so I don't know if they just If people haven't even thought to ask that question or what.

Jam: 08:33

Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. Interesting. Okay.

Jam: 08:37

His next question is from Sam. Burning plastics are very stinky. Why?

Melissa: 08:45

This is not our Sam. It's a different Sam.

Jam: 08:48

Yeah. I must know how it's worth it.

Melissa: 08:50

This is a hilarious question, Sam. If I had to guess, I think it's when we burn plastics. That's usually when it goes past the melting phase and it starts to degrade. So I think there's some combustion reaction going on, but I don't think it's Full combustion reaction

Jam: 09:07

Mhmm.

Melissa: 09:07

Because there's other things besides just carbon in there. So my guess was the Organic molecules within the plastic start to break down, but they're leaving behind some organic byproducts that Just are bad smelling to us.

Jam: 09:25

Mhmm. Interesting. And

Melissa: 09:27

there's so much in plastic. You know? You could have So many different functional groups, so many different of the monomers that make up the polymers that I think it could just have a really There could just be so many things going on

Jam: 09:41

Yeah.

Melissa: 09:42

In terms of byproducts. Yeah. But that's my guess. I couldn't find any resources. Chemistry off the cuff.

Jam: 09:49

Yeah. Chemistry off the cuff, our other podcast.

Melissa: 09:54

That's what our friend, Miriam, suggested. We start calling it whenever I just make make guesses. Uh-huh. Educated guesses. Yeah.

Melissa: 10:02

Yeah. So this next question, I guess, is more of a bit of information. Uh-huh. And this was an email that I got in my personal email from a colleague of mine. She's, was a professor at UNT, and she ran the chemistry program that I'm in now before she retired.

Melissa: 10:22

So she's someone I know personally and professionally, you know, in real life.

Jam: 10:27

Yeah. Cool.

Melissa: 10:28

So she sent me an email. And just to summarize the first part of her story, she said that historically in the United States, there are things like gasoline that were continued in use even though we knew it was bad Mhmm. Because the technology was patented and they were still making money.

Jam: 10:43

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Melissa: 10:44

So about BPA, this is doctor Mason's exact words. So she said, I didn't know I don't know about BPA specifically, but I bet you That if you looked up the patent, when it runs out, BPA will be removed and replaced with the next best polymer, and we will ban its use like the rest of the world. Mhmm. That was interesting. And she also said some of the plant materials that can be made into really hard substances that degrade quickly and could be consumed by animals look Really promising, which we definitely talked about that on our new plastics episode.

Jam: 11:13

Yeah. Yeah. Think that's cool. Very interesting. And this next question is a fun one from Renee C.

Melissa: 11:21

And I just wanna shout out Renee C because anytime I post on Instagram that we're doing a q and a. She floods our inbox with more personal life questions to round out each episode.

Jam: 11:32

Nice. Nice. That's great. So this question Joe, this is tough. What's your favorite part of a married life?

Melissa: 11:40

My favorite part of married life is that I get to Live with my spouse.

Jam: 11:45

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 11:45

And it's just really nice. It would be so hard if you were, like, you know, hanging out, and at the end of the night, you just had to go your ways. Yeah. Especially once we got engaged Yeah. That it was just, I just wanna live with you already.

Melissa: 12:00

Yeah. Yeah. And so I think that's been really nice, but it also is nice to just have a teammate, a partner to do things with and Tackle every every hard problem that comes up. You have someone that's on your side and on your team.

Jam: 12:15

Yeah. Yeah. Well said. I think for me, this is sort of like not one part, so I'm kinda cheating. But I I think for me, I've come to believe that it's really good for us as people to have People in our lives, that are very close to us.

Jam: 12:37

And, obviously, that can be a spouse. It can also be a really close friend. Yeah. But that we have to stick it out with for a long time.

Melissa: 12:44

Yeah.

Jam: 12:44

And I think one of my favorite parts of having been married is I think I'm actually a better person, and I think I've Been forced to have to grow and change and also be more selfless Yeah. In ways that, you know, sound cool before get married?

Melissa: 12:59

It sound

Jam: 13:00

it sound really romantic and stuff.

Melissa: 13:01

Yeah.

Jam: 13:02

But when you're actually in it, it's obviously, like, not always that way at all. Yeah. It's like sometimes I'm really having to put aside Something that I feel very strongly about or feel like I've got great reasons to argue this or whatever And just have to realize that I gotta put somebody else before me.

Melissa: 13:21

Yeah.

Jam: 13:22

And that's so hard. Obviously, that's not any of our nature. Like Yes. That's so counter. I think for me, I've I've been married just long enough to feel like, okay.

Jam: 13:30

I definitely am a better person than I would otherwise be.

Melissa: 13:34

Well, I will say too, though, I think you can also grow in singleness. So I think this is a good question, but I was a single person into being 30

Jam: 13:43

Yeah.

Melissa: 13:43

Which not a lot of people, you know, are generation thirties, I guess, knew. Yeah. Some people are getting married there, but a lot of people we know got married before that. I was one of my last Friends to get married. Yeah.

Melissa: 13:54

And there's a lot of ways to grow in that time too. They're just different. Like, they're both good ways that you can grow in both of those Times of your life, and they're both really beautiful and unique and special. Like, I definitely got some experiences not being married Yeah. Into my thirties that other people who were married at that point

Jam: 14:14

Yeah.

Melissa: 14:14

Maybe didn't get to have. So don't feel like you're in a you gotta be in a rush To get married so you can grow.

Jam: 14:20

Oh, totally. That's why. I mean, preface my question with my answer with

Melissa: 14:23

that Yes. That Yes. Yes.

Jam: 14:24

Being close with somebody. I don't think you can my hypothesis. I don't think you can really do that alone, though. Like, you're just they didn't have close friends, didn't have people that

Melissa: 14:33

Yeah.

Jam: 14:34

Made you have to kind of, like, Yeah. Be more selfless, and and I think we learn from each other really well. So I think that's

Melissa: 14:40

I definitely think that's true.

Jam: 14:42

That's why, but I do wanna do wanna preface my answer with This has been my experience, but I think it can Yeah. I think you can achieve it a different way.

Melissa: 14:50

I I remember this so clearly. In 3rd or 4th grade, somebody had a poster up that said it's easy to stay calm when nobody ruffles your feathers. It's just swan Flooding Uh-huh. And something along those lines. And I thought, gosh.

Melissa: 15:06

That is so true. It is really easy to seem like You don't hurt any anyone's feelings, and you don't do mean stuff, and you're never selfish or thoughtless whenever it's just you.

Jam: 15:17

Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa: 15:18

So Yeah. I just always think about that. For some for some reason Yeah. That just stuck in my brain.

Jam: 15:25

Yeah.

Melissa: 15:25

That was a good question, Renee.

Jam: 15:28

Yeah. Very good.

Melissa: 15:30

Yeah. So thanks everybody to your questions. Each time we do a q and r, I love them so much. I'd get a lot of episode ideas. I think the high fructose corn syrup came from A call for q and r episodes.

Melissa: 15:41

Uh-huh. We've had a lot of really good questions come out of those. So thank you guys always for responding. We love them. We read all of your comments and emails and stuff, and they make us really happy.

Jam: 15:51

Yes. Definitely.

Melissa: 15:52

One that made me especially happy was one of our CoFi donors, which we'll talk a little bit more about a minute, but one of our COVID donors commented on the donation. It made me so happy. They said, great show. Listening from the Netherlands. Your voice Those accents are also really pleasant to hear.

Melissa: 16:09

Fun to listen to during gardening, but also great before falling asleep because it shows not so wild with shouting And lots of sounds like most American podcasts that I thought was hilarious Yeah. That's funny. We were Applauded for our not shouting in lots of sounds, but also imagining someone listening to us while gardening was just really I know. A delightful Full image.

Jam: 16:32

And it's funny to think of our accents being something that people like at all because I know. I you know, it's normal for us. The American accent is what we hear most of the time.

Melissa: 16:42

Yeah.

Jam: 16:43

And I appreciate other accents more than ours Right. Almost always.

Melissa: 16:47

Right.

Jam: 16:47

I just think it's it It's more interesting. It's so beautiful. And so it's funny to think of somebody thinking that that about an American accent.

Melissa: 16:54

That ours are pleasant.

Jam: 16:55

Yeah. To be ours, My art I thought I was thinking of ours as sounding so just like

Melissa: 17:00

Neutral to negative?

Jam: 17:01

Neutral or, yeah, or negative or just not no Musicality to it.

Melissa: 17:06

Yeah.

Jam: 17:06

I just kind of that's how I I think of it, and that's kind of a bias against it. But, Anyway, that's cool to hear.

Melissa: 17:13

So, Remco, that made me really happy. It I laughed a lot and took a picture of it and sent it to some friends to also enjoy.

Jam: 17:23

And then we also wanna shout out a couple other, Cofi people who've supported us this month, on our That is Jacob t, Hunter r, Julianne, Christina g, Chelsea b, Steven b, Timothy p, and Harry t. Thank you guys so much for supporting us, for giving a little bit, and helping cover the costs of making our show. That means so much to us. It helps us keep it going, and we are just so thankful for our support. Both you guys listening, who are just out there supporting us, And then also you guys who go to our co find and and give a little bit.

Jam: 18:01

That means so much to us.

Melissa: 18:02

It really does. It helps us keep going on the show. There have been times We didn't know exactly how we're gonna make the ends that meet, and now the show is at least supporting itself, which is really exciting.

Jam: 18:13

Mhmm. And

Melissa: 18:14

it's all because of you guys and giving and supporting us, And we can think through this being a more long term career possibly for both of us. So that is very exciting.

Jam: 18:23

Yes. Definitely.

Melissa: 18:25

This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and Jam Robinson, and we'd like to give a special thanks to E Robinson who reviewed this episode.