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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.
If you’re someone who loves learning new things, or who wonders about the way the world works, then give us a listen.
Okay, Jam. Here's a quick overview of today's episode.
Jam:K.
Melissa:We're gonna do PFAS part 3, forever chemicals return of the forever chemicals. Dang.
Jam:It's a 3 parter. It's a trilogy so far.
Melissa:It's gonna be is what's the word for it for it? Quadrilogy?
Jam:I think so. Or sometimes people say saga at that point.
Melissa:It's a saga. Ah. It's a saga, and we're gonna talk about today, really, what can we do now as the consumers, if anything? And we're gonna hear about so what we as consumers can do, we're gonna read a write in from a chemist who actually works with PFAS. And finally, you'll get a little chemistry lesson about how PFAS filtering technology works.
Jam:Okay. Sounds good.
Melissa:So that's a quick overview. You ready to get into it?
Jam:Let's do it. Alright.
Melissa: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 helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life. And if it's one of your first times joining us, Melissa truly is a chemist. She just said she's a chemist, and she really is. She has a bachelor's, master's, And a PhD.
Melissa:All the degrees.
Jam:Yeah. That's about as chemist as you can get. I am truly not a chemist. I'm a Person. Just a regular old person that is interested in science.
Jam:And Melissa teaches me some chemistry every week, and I learn along with you guys.
Melissa:That's true. And not only is jam a regular old person, but he also takes care of all of the audio quality and the visual things that happen. So He is really the reason that this podcast is broadcasting into your ears right now. So thanks for that, Jan.
Jam:So if you have complaints about that, don't blame Melissa.
Melissa:I mean, We're a team. You can play most together. Okay. So if you haven't already listened, this is a part of a saga, so please go back and listen into our first 2 parts of the series on PFAS. So the first part is sort of what are they, are they dangerous, and a little bit about, you know, what do I think about them.
Melissa:And then the 2nd part is how did we even get here? So I was hoping that today we could talk about 2 levels of what should we do now. And one of those would be the individual level and then the broader scope of what's happening, like, what technology chemists are inventing, what What industry is using the big picture stuff, but actually, there was enough information that I felt like it would be better in 2 smaller bites That's 1 big episode. So this is gonna be part 3 of 4. Okay.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:So we're not going anywhere yet. And I think I'm gonna do a q and a episode. Oh, well, this might not come out before that.
Jam:This one will.
Melissa:This one will come out before we record it. So I wanna do a q and a episode, a special one that focuses just on PFAS. So Yeah. I'll, post that on our Instagram, and, you can send us a message and be looking out because I think a lot of people have reached talked to us since we started this series. So okay.
Melissa:And you can be getting ready for that as well. So first, let's start on the individual level what we as consumers can do. And sadly, the answer to this question is not a lot.
Jam:Dang it.
Melissa:I know. And it sucks because it's not really our fault. Right? Like, we didn't invent forever chemicals, quote, unquote, forever chemicals, nor did we know Yeah. How dangerous they were when they started to be incorporated into everything.
Melissa:Even I feel like until recently, they weren't talked about very much.
Jam:Yeah. Totally.
Melissa:And so it wasn't really our fault, but it is sort of our problem now that we have to deal with. And what is also hard, and I sort of alluded to this on the very 1st episode we did is that people with more resources, that's all kinds of resources. So mental capacity, emotional capacity, you know, like a person without kids, gonna have more mental energy probably than a person with kids or, financial resources, just time, resources, you know, all these things that some people are going to have access to and other people aren't.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That also makes it to where some people can do more than others, and that's not super fair.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So a big concept I want to get across is is I'm gonna share some things that I think individuals can do. But the bigger, more important thing is that we hold industries trees to account. Because, really, if we could stop the use of PFAS in fast food or if we could stop the use of PFAS in, you know, areas that are gonna contaminate our drinking water, or if we require that they destroy any PFAS they put into the environment or products that are made or things like that, then I think everyone could avoid them, which is ultimately the goal.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So I'm trying to give people information to equip them knowing that it's really not enough. And, really, we should have a broader conversation where we're calling industry to accountability.
Jam:Right. Right. Right.
Melissa:And the chemist who did it, which we did talk a little bit about how there was a lawsuit where Some of the chem the chemical companies that originated PFAS are doing some stuff to help treat waterways. But And next week, we'll talk more about what some of those things are, but I did wanna give a few things that you can possibly do if you have the resources.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:One, you can reduce eating fast food restaurants as much as possible. I know some places that's the easiest, cheapest access to food. But if it's possible, you can reduce your eating of fast food. And there was a study that looked at some of the, fast food companies that were some of the worst. So maybe you could even just choose one that's gonna have less PFAS in their wrappers.
Melissa:Although I did so McDonald's is one of those, and they did say that they were working towards eliminating PFAS, but who knows if that's really true.
Jam:Yeah. That's tough. But at least what's What's nice is that McDonald's had the ability to do it. Like Right. You could argue some some restaurants or some chains.
Jam:It's like, they're so big. They've got They've got the money. They've gotta be able to know how to do this, and they could put some money into r and d if they wanna come up with some other different type of wrapper that works well, They roll it out, but, like, they got rid of Styrofoam only a few years ago.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And they're just like they did it. They just did it.
Melissa:They just did it.
Jam:They didn't, like, obviously, replace it with something super awesome. Mhmm. But it's not Styrofoam.
Melissa:It could be also those cups very likely, I feel like, have a PFAS coating on them. Maybe so. Just wax, but because it doesn't soak that cardboard. You know? Yeah.
Jam:That's probably true.
Melissa:Could be waxed, but who knows?
Jam:They also just use the clear plastic ones too.
Melissa:Oh, yeah.
Jam:That's what they use for their their big ones. But Yeah. It's like they can do that. They can make these changes.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And their system allows for it, so they should start the trend.
Melissa:And they could take a hit on the bottom line. Like, if you just need to do 2 pieces of just parchment paper that or some kind of paper that doesn't have PFAS coating on it
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Then do it. You can take the bottom line because the grease won't soak through that fast?
Jam:Yeah. Yep.
Melissa:So that's, that's true.
Jam:And it wasn't any of our biggest complaints about McDonald's. Like, none of us were like, oh, the Paper wrapping. Like, think about back in, like, the seventies or eighties whenever they're wrapping it and whatever they used then that
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Maybe maybe didn't have PFAS yet. Yeah. It was just like regular kraft paper or something like that. It's like was anyone like, man, why can't they have some sort of sophisticated coating on this paper? You know?
Jam:But I think we're all fine with it. So
Melissa:And the other thing similar to that is actually, popcorn bags have a have a similar coating. Uh-huh. And Jam and I have talked about, you can make popcorn on the stove with kernels, and we like it better.
Jam:Mhmm. It's very cheap. Mhmm. Like, not like, Japan kernels is, like, So
Melissa:cheap so cheap.
Jam:Lasts you forever. So there's no real barrier to that other than just the skill you had to learn a little bit.
Melissa:Yeah. And time.
Jam:Time. Yeah. I guess that's true. Definitely time.
Melissa:And then, additionally, I had 1. If the time's the problem, a microwave silicone popcorn bowl that you can use kernels as well.
Jam:There you go.
Melissa:So that's a little more finances less time.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:You can also look into your local water regulation body, so whatever government is in charge of your water regulation and see if they test for PFAS and if there are any regulations. And if not, there are technologies that you as an individual person can use. Mhmm. But you're you might already have something with your water that that is in place and that's positive. Oh, ever got to say.
Melissa:Before I said all this, I should have said. There are studies that indicate that if you have PFAS in contact with your skin, so, like, if you're showering and it's contaminated water or if you're closed, like we talked about, has some period underwear, some raincoats, they have PFAS on it. It seems like there's a less transfer of PFAS through your skin. It's primarily ingested sources that you should avoid, so that's why I'm focusing on that here.
Jam:Got it. Okay. Makes sense.
Melissa:So it avoid ingesting wherever possible. So the fast food wrappers, the popcorn lined bags. Mhmm. And then if you can look into your water regulation. And at the end, your little chemistry lesson, that's gonna focus on the filtration technology.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:Another one is just like PFAS can accumulate in our bodies, they can also accumulate in the bodies of the things that we eat, especially fish, you say live in water.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:And so you can look and see where your fish comes from, and there is a list provided by the EPA of where some of that ish that's gonna be more highly concentrated PFAS that hopefully we would avoid would come from. Although, again, if you have the capacity and the resources to do that is thing.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Like, I'm thinking about sometimes you just get, like, the fish equivalent of dino nuggets. Mhmm. I doubt that those say where those fish come from. Yeah. So, and then this one, I think, is really important, and, actually, are already starting to see change, is that governments can put regulations in place.
Melissa:Mhmm. And so you can give input and vote for lawmakers that are gonna be committed to making changes and improving regulations. So as of just the last year, the EPA has made restrictions that, make it tighter, smaller amounts of the primary 2, PFAS, and then other PFAS are starting to be regulated for the first time. I think One thing I read said there's more than 8,000 kinds, but some are gonna be a lot more prevalent in the environment than the others. So they're focus on focusing on regulating those.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So that's really good progress. And the EPA has a great website, and we're gonna link it below where it goes through or in our show notes or on our website, on our YouTube show notes. It has a great website that goes through meaningful steps that you can take, including how you can comment on federal regulations and have your voice heard. So It talks about the things that you can avoid, a lot of the stuff that I mentioned already, but also gives, like, specific resources for you to go and have your voice heard so that you can, you know, share what you've learned about PFAS that you want to minimize how that is in our environment as much as possible. So check that out because I think that's gonna be the thing that we as individuals can do that will actually make the most meaningful change for everyone.
Melissa:Right. You know? I think those are the come those are the that's a level at which companies will be held accountable and that they'll be called to find alternatives that are actually safe.
Jam:Yeah. Right.
Melissa:So that's what we can do as consumers. But the one thing that I didn't go in detail on is the filtration. So this is literally something we can do to get PFAS out of our water.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:So The thing about this is we can filter PFAS out of our water, but we usually need something to filter it with, and that thing will still have the PFAS in it.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So it's not ideal for widespread contamination, but it is good for individuals in their homes. So I'm gonna share a little bit about this knowing that next week, we're gonna talk about now what can we actually do to get rid of them now that they're not in our water anymore?
Jam:K.
Melissa:Okay. And I got an email from a listener who is a chemist who works with PFAS about filtration and elimination and what his experience has been like. So I'm gonna read that. Okay?
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:So this is This is so fun.
Jam:I was so excited when I
Melissa:got this email. He said, hey, Melissa and Jam. I listened to the most recent episode, put sorry, to the most recent podcast about PFAS on my way home. I found it very interesting because I am an environmental scientist and work with PFAS to a limited extent since I started my current role. My general role primarily works with identifying and monitoring groundwater contamination.
Melissa:So groundwater contamination, as an aside, typically comes from either manufacturing or landfills where PFAS, you know, gets into the ground and then seeps into our waterways.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Groundwater contamination. Let's see if I lost my spot. Here. My experience with PFAS has mostly included environmental sampling and occasional discussions with more experienced coworkers. With that said, mostly the data available is on the EPA's website.
Melissa:I think it might be worth looking into some references that are more environmentally focused than purely chemistry. So that is what I did this time is look more at the EPA's website. Mhmm.
Jam:He
Melissa:said it's a very common problem and hot topic in the world of environmental policy and remediation. One thing I found interesting is that in my unlimited experience, most chemicals are tested at the part per million, While PFAS are typically tested at the parts per trillion.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And the EPA has also proposed even tighter standards than what was prior for drinking water. So he shared 2 links that we're gonna include in our share notes in our show notes that we'll talk about as well. And then he went on to say, and with regards to your comment about being unsure how to treat drinking water, there is actually multiple ways to immobilize the PFAS. The issue is destroying it. In my work, most clients want the PFAS destroyed.
Melissa:But for consumers, immobilizing it out of our drinking water is better than drinking it and letting it get into our systems in the 1st place.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:That unfortunately means the PFAS is still out there and might get into landfills. Here's a link from the EPA that talks about ways for consumers to potentially handle the PFAS in their drinking water. A helpful article a very helpful article before looking it up. I've heard professionally that granular activated carbon was very good at sequestering the PFAS, but it was not the outcome people are looking because they want it to be completely connected. Yeah.
Melissa:Yep. So then he goes on to to say thanks for reading, and then he enjoys the which is really nice. So thank you so much for that email, Will. We really appreciate it.
Jam:Yeah. That's super cool. That's like, how perfect is that?
Melissa:I know. It's, like, it's similar to the feeling when we, like, read about a scientist's work on the mosquito episodes when they emailed us. I was like, wow. Someone who actually works with this. And then also, one of our listeners, Chelsea, works with PFAS as well.
Melissa:And then I have a friend who works more on the environmental side, and also reach out to me about PFAS. So I'm probably gonna share some of those things in the q and a episode about PFAS. K. The PFAS roundup q and a episode. Nice.
Melissa:But so he talked about in that episode that the current standard commonly recommended thing for filtering PFAS or mobilizing PFAS in our water is granulated activated carbon.
Jam:K.
Melissa:So we're gonna talk about what that is. Okay. This is your chemistry lesson.
Jam:Alright. Do you
Melissa:know anything about granulated activated carbon?
Jam:I feel like I I'm aware that's used in filtration. We have, like, a water filter in our fridge, and so I have to buy new versions of that. And I feel like I see that as, like, A commonly included part of water filtration, but I don't know why.
Melissa:Okay. Well, I'll tell you why. So the thing that granulated activated carbon is good at getting is nonpolar water molecules. So here's your chemistry lesson, it is a little bit of a review. So we've talked before about this more in-depth.
Melissa:If you wanna go listen the very 1st episode, I think, is the 1st time we talked about this, but we've talked about polar and nonpolar molecules.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:And a good way to envision this is each atom in every molecule has sort of a cloud of electrons around it. And for some reason, the way I was envisioning it this week while I was, you know, sort of, trying to describe it and think about how to describe it for you is if you spray with a spray paint can. You know how there can be, like, evenly dispersed dots all around Uh-huh. Paint? Or sometimes, you can maybe not have a quite even spray, and part of it will be more more spray paint in one area and less spray paint in another.
Melissa:Uh-huh. So most atoms have, you know, a a dispersion of electrons around them. But when they get into molecules and they interact with other atoms, that spray of electrons might not be evenly distributed. So just like with spray paint, you can possibly have a perfectly even stroke where there's even amounts of paint everywhere, or one part can have more dense paint coverage than another. Mhmm.
Melissa:That's how molecules are too.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:Okay. So you can have a molecule with even distribution of electrons all around it, and so it doesn't have any high concentration or low concentration areas of electrons. It's just evenly dispersed. Mhmm.
Jam:And
Melissa:so it doesn't have any areas where it might be negative or positive because electrons are negative. It's all equally dispersed around.
Jam:Right. Got it.
Melissa:Now on the flip side, if atoms get together and one maybe has a stronger ability to pull electrons or different things can come into play if it's not symmetrical. You can have areas where there's more electron density, so like a higher concentration of spray paint in one area. And in that case, if the electrons are concentrated at one area, that area is going to be more negative because electrons are negative. In the area that it's abandoned, it will be more positive. So that causes there to be a strongly negative part and a strongly positive part.
Melissa:And so if you can get a molecule like that around another molecule like that, the negative part of 1 will interact with the positive part of another, and they'll be drawn closely together. So those with the negative and positive parts, those are called polar molecules.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:And then there are the other kind where it's evenly dispersed are called nonpolar molecules. Kills.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So polar molecules can easily interact with each other, and nonpolar molecules can easily interact with each other, but they don't easily interact with across polarities.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So we talked about that a lot on the soap episode that we did for the very first one. Also, a lot of people have seen this in oil and water. Right? Water and oil don't mix because water is polar. It has a negative part and a positive part until it wants to interact with other water molecules.
Melissa:Oil is mostly nonpolar. So it's just gonna mostly interact with other oil molecules, and so they don't like to interact with each other.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:Okay. So In this case, PFAS are mostly nonpolar. They usually have a a small part at one end that's polar, and the rest of it is nonpolar.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So because of that, if you have that PFAS in water, that polar end might be interacting with the water. But a lot of the rest of the molecule not really being polar, it's not really super happy in the water. So if you can pass the water through a nonpolar filter of some kind Mhmm. The the PFAS will likely be happier in the nonpolar area.
Jam:Right. Okay.
Melissa:K. So now granulated activated carbon is not polar.
Jam:K.
Melissa:It's just a bunch of carbon atoms, so they're all equally pulling on their electrons because they're all the same atom. And they have a they form a network of atoms that have a lot of pores in it. So And some of those are, like, visible to the eye. If you some maybe you've seen activated charcoal or activated carbon. Sometimes it can be in, like, sort of chunks, you know, and you can see divots in the surface.
Melissa:Sometimes you can't see that because it's at the molecular level. But either way, it has a lot of pores. So when water passes by, there's a lot of surface area and a lot of chances for any organic contaminants, so carbon based contaminants that are primarily not polar to interact with the activated carbon and not come out of the activated carbon.
Jam:Got it. Okay.
Melissa:And that's essentially how activated carbon can filter PFAS and other organic nonpolar contaminants out of water.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So and it works really well.
Jam:Wow.
Melissa:If you have the right size of PFAS and it's a relatively new, activated carbon, and there's this good amount compared to the amount of water that's passing through it. It can have up to a 100% filtration.
Jam:Wow. Dang.
Melissa:Yes. So it's really good. And we have one of those filters. So I was like, yes. Nice.
Melissa:But there are issues with it. Yeah. So I said that PFAS are mostly nonpolar. Mhmm. So there's one end that's polar, but that long chain overpowers it.
Melissa:You know? That's the primary thing that's going on. Yep. If that long chain is actually a short chain, instead of being, like, 1 20th of the molecule is polar or one tenth of the molecule is blurry. It could be, like, 1 half of the molecules.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Shorter chain PFAS are harder to filter out with activated carbon.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So that's one thing. And another thing is that it does have to get regularly replaced because Even though there's a high surface area, at some point, there's not gonna be anywhere else for things to stick to it. Yeah. And then the last part, the part that we're gonna talk about next time is that, again, they're not destroyed.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So when you take out that filter, and I'm assuming you throw your filter in the trash
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:It goes to a landfill.
Jam:Chance of it just reentering the system. Yep. Okay.
Melissa:So, hence, the problem with forever chemicals. Right. So that's the issue that we're gonna talk about next time. It is now how do we actually get rid of them? And spoiler alert, there are ways to actually get rid of it.
Melissa:Okay. And lots of people are working on that, but it's too much for this episode.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. That'd be a lot.
Melissa:So that's your quick chemistry lesson.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Do you wanna take a stab at explaining it back to me?
Jam:Yes. I would love to. So we've got polar molecules and nonpolar molecules. Mhmm. Polar means heavy concentration of electrons, negativity on one side
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Which means positivity on the other side. Mhmm. Nonpolar, Evenly distributed. Mhmm. So, no strong poles, no strong negativity or positivity on one side or the other.
Jam:We've talked about that, like magnets, and we've used a few different analogies to, like, describe the polarity side before or whatever. And the nice thing about PFAS, if it's a long enough molecule, is that A really good amount of that molecule is gonna be nonpolar. Mhmm. And just a tiny little part is polar. Mhmm.
Jam:And so if we could create sort of, like, Almost like it's a fish, and we can put a bunch of nets in the way. Mhmm. For the big fish, Way easier for those nets to have a chance of catching it. Yes. Let's say you put, like, something the fish wants to get to on one side, Bunch of nets on the other side.
Jam:It's high likelihood that it's gonna get caught somewhere in there.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:But for those smaller molecules A PFAS, which have a smaller, nonpolar part to them.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:They might just be able to slip right on through and not really Get caught in the net somehow. Yeah. That doesn't speak to, like, the like like likes like thing as much, but The filtering part, I guess, or the catching it or whatever. Yeah. And so it works great.
Jam:Carbon being nonpolar is great at capturing and holding on to the nonpolar part of this larger PFAS, because they just wanna be together. Yeah. You know? They just want to be I think sometimes we've talked about nonpolarity is like friends. You know?
Melissa:Yeah. Like,
Jam:friend groups. Like, you wanna be with your friends, you know, or anything like that. But
Melissa:Or, like, people who are I thought of it as, like, people who are really active, and they're like, you know, they're like, up running around. And then there's people who's like, mostly wanna watch a movie.
Jam:Yes. Yes.
Melissa:The PFAS, like, I just mostly wanna watch a movie. I'm not trying to get into too much, and it passes through, like, Your options are to go for a 5 k or to sit on the couch with me.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:PFAS like, I'm sitting on the couch.
Jam:Yep. Yep.
Melissa:Yeah. You just have to offer it the
Jam:I just wanna chill. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And so in that specific case, it works great, but when we have the smaller PFAS, a different Form of filtration would have to be employed or destroying it.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:But at least in the in the case of, like, the polar, non polar, that won't work because even if you try to do, like, a polar Filtration. On the smaller molecules, it's, like, 2 equal. It's, like, 5050 or something like that where maybe that's not the route Yes. To capture and keep them at bay. Did I have missed in that?
Melissa:No. I thought that was really good. And there are some other filtration technologies, but they do have similar problems. And I thought these were the most common easily available that you can get in filtration systems in your fridge, in your individual pitchers. That's what we have.
Melissa:Mhmm. You do have to be able to replace them regularly. And, again, they're not perfect, but they're a good tool for us to use short term while we call our communities to action. Got it. So, yeah, that's a little bit about PFAS.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:I I'm surprised at how much this has turned into a saga. It's like the summer of 2023 is defined by PFAS.
Jam:Yeah. Did we add to the list, or did you not include it? Maybe because it's not maybe it's not quite as up there. Just our favorite, topic of cookware choice? Or is that not one of the main peep ways people ingest because
Melissa:water is It was actually on some list I looked tab, but not the EPA list, so I didn't include it. But, yes, that is 1. And, also, people talk about not using plastic as well. You know, p plastic could have Some PFAS or some kind of bad things leaching into your stuff anyway, but we've already talked about
Jam:those Okay.
Melissa:Pretty extensively.
Jam:So They've had their own series already.
Melissa:Yeah. Pretty much. So Yeah. I focused on some new information. Wherever you can, avoid plastic for silicone and glass.
Melissa:That's great. And wherever you can, avoid Teflon for cast iron pans. That's great too. Those can be affordable if you have the ability to get to, like, a thrift store or something. A lot of times, there are cast iron pans that have just been abandoned
Jam:at their stores. Yeah. And even, like I mean, obviously, buying some of those used ones are great, and they're if there's so much life left. But even new ones, some of the brands that are making new ones, it's not expensive. Yeah.
Jam:It's crazy. Like, there are some nice brands that are targeting a bunch. Ones. But, like, The most common ones are like yeah. It's like $20 for this pan.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Which is like, oh, if it's gonna last forever, that's a pretty good buy. But if you can get a $5 one at the at
Melissa:the thrift store.
Jam:Yeah. At the thrift store. It's like, that's amazing.
Melissa:And sometimes they're already nice and smoothed out. Mhmm. You know, Mason has one that he got from his grandma that's like glass.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:It's so nice. That's awesome. Yeah. And my brother-in-law has a lot of inherited ones too. So
Jam:That's cool.
Melissa:Alright. Great. Well, that's all I have for your chemistry lesson today, but I did want to ask if you have any fun, happy things this week.
Jam:I do have a fun, happy thing from this week. So we're able to my family and I, my side of the family, I've got My older brother and my mom live in Abilene, which is not that far away, like, 3 hours. And then my younger brother, sister-in-law, and their kids live in Kentucky. And so all of us getting together is a little bit hard to pull off, but we were able to, in somewhat record time from the idea being presented to the actual, like, Plan execution, all that stuff. Pull off a hangout where we all got to be in the same place for about, like, 4 4 days.
Melissa:Amazing.
Jam:And it was so great. Kids got to play. We had to catch up. It was It's a little chaotic. 4 kids and, 6 adults, and, you know, just a little crazy, But it was really fun.
Jam:So we did that last week.
Melissa:And how many dogs?
Jam:Zero dogs.
Melissa:Oh, really? Yep.
Jam:Zero dogs.
Melissa:That does make it a little less chaotic.
Jam:Yeah. A little less chaos for sure. But, But, yeah, that was a lot of fun. We got to eat good food and cook and hang out and
Melissa:What was your favorite food that you ate?
Jam:Oh, okay. Here's the favorite thing. Not like It's not maybe the best thing we ate, but one of the most interesting things that happened is the oven broke. We're at a a family member's, lake house that we were using. And while we're at the oven broke, and, we had a few things we'd bother.
Jam:We wanted to make sure we used that that wouldn't be good for super long Boy, we'd already, like, cracked into, so we had to finish it or whatever. So we got creative, and my older brother and I Used the waffle iron there for some things that you might not traditionally use it for. For instance, we made waffle iron brownies.
Melissa:Nice.
Jam:And get this.
Melissa:Actually, I thought those were really good.
Jam:Very good because they get, like I mean, obviously, you you like gooey brownies, but Mhmm. If you're gonna combine it with, like, ice cream, if you get a little crispy Yeah. It's actually pretty great. So we did that. Worked great.
Melissa:Wow.
Jam:And then the next thing we did, we were like, let's not stop here. You know? Our confidence level is so high. We did, waffle iron cinnamon rolls. We had a can of cinnamon rolls and
Melissa:Oh my god.
Jam:Put like, the waffle iron is like Had 4 sections. And then, you know, like a it was like a round one, but each yeah. Four sections in there. We put one of those little cinnamon rolls in each section. Yeah.
Jam:Press it down. It worked amazingly, and they were ready so fast too.
Melissa:Listen. Necessity. The motherhood mentioned. And now I bet you're like, could really go for some waffle iron brownies on this ice cream.
Jam:And what's great about it with, like, both of those things, it's like you get the benefit of the structure of the waffle, which is that it has little traps For
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Ice cream or in the case of the cinnamon rolls, the
Melissa:Cream cheese?
Jam:The cream cheese icing stuff. Yeah. It keeps it, and then you can still hold it and eat it. Well, it's got good structure to it. Amazing.
Melissa:I thought that was amazing.
Jam:Yeah. And it works great. I just can't believe it. I've never even thought to try that. So Wow.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:That is a fun story. Thanks for sharing that with
Jam:So that was my week. That was a fun thing. I saw a few fun things all rolled into 1. But what about you?
Melissa:Well, okay. So I actually have show and tell. Hold, please, while I get some stuff out of my bag.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Oh. This is actually a gift that I got from someone. Okay. So this is a gift that I got from, a friend of mine actually, a friend of the show, friend of yours in real life and who parts chemistry for your life. Abby
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:We have celebrated Christmas in July together for I I think it's 12 years is what we figured
Jam:out. Nice.
Melissa:Since she got married in 2012 is the first time we celebrated. She got married earlier that year, and we celebrated so that we could still have time together because we were roommates before that. You know?
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:And the thing about Christmas in July is no family is trying to get that holiday is there's no competition. Mhmm. Nobody celebrates Yep. And sometimes we can't actually do it in July, you know, but one thing she said 1 year is my mom says Christmas is we're together. So Yeah.
Melissa:Christmas and July is when we're together, and we just celebrated. And she got me 2 really good gifts, but I was really excited about this one for the show. So This is the periodic table of elements magnetic learning activity.
Jam:Oh, nice.
Melissa:And I thought it was just magnets for the fridge. No. If you open it, it has little individual magnets.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And I haven't taken them all out yet, and they magnetize onto a periodic table in the box.
Jam:Ah, I see.
Melissa:And they're grouped together like different metals, like, so metalloids, metals, noble gases, allergens, nonmetals. All these things
Jam:are grouped by color.
Melissa:Yeah. And they have little uses for different items on there. And some of them, I don't know what that use is for. So, like, silicone, which we just did a whole episode on, for some reason, is on, this teacup. And I was like, what?
Melissa:What is, like, is silicone used in making, like, tea saucers in the paint or what? Uh-huh. Or is it maybe in the glaze? And so Oh. Second.
Melissa:So there's lots of little uses that I'm already excited to look up. So we see this 1, silicone. I don't know how much you can see on there, but and it has a little tea cups and saucer. And then there's, phosphorus for toothpaste, which I have a suspicion about that. I looked up about that recently.
Melissa:There's some I do know, like Helion has balloons, obviously, and carbon is diamonds. But there's others that I'm like, I genuinely do not know why this picture is on here.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And I gotta go figure it out.
Jam:Dang. That's really cool. What a cool gift.
Melissa:I know. I'm really excited, and I thought our listeners would be excited too. So
Jam:That's awesome.
Melissa:And I can't wait for if I ever get to be a lecturer, a teacher again to have it in my office and let students look through it.
Jam:Yeah. That's cool.
Melissa:So thanks, Abby, and also podcast listeners. I thought It was really sweet and special and great to get to spend time with her, but also this gift was so cool that I just wanted to tell you all about it.
Jam:That's awesome thing.
Melissa:So, yay, yay chemistry. You know what I'm saying? Amen. She also got me a really cute book called Goodnight Lab, which is, like, fashioned after a goodnight moon.
Jam:Nice. I've heard that book countless times. 100 times. It? Oh, yeah.
Jam:Goodnight Moon. Sorry. Oh. The reference one that you're saying.
Melissa:Lab we have. And we music
Jam:of that lab, I was like, that's exactly what it's gonna be. It's gonna be based on yeah.
Melissa:It was very good and very funny. Okay. Great. Well, thanks, Jim, for, you know, letting me blather on and on about PFAS and share with our listeners.
Jam:Well, thank you for teaching us. Thank you for being willing to enter into this topic into 4 parts. A lot of research, a lot of things to go into, so thanks for doing that. If you have a question or an idea or a topic or suggestions like that, you can reach out to us. We love y'all's questions and ideas.
Jam:Reach out to us on our website atchem for your life dotcom. That's kim, f o r, your life.com to share your thoughts, ideas, or questions. If you'd like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, You can go to patreon.com/chem for your life to join our super cool community, community of patrons. You could also have the link in our show notes or, tap the link in the description of the video. If you're not able to do that, you can help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app and reading and writing review on Apple Podcasts, also subscribing on our YouTube channel.
Jam:Those things help us to share chemistry with even more people as well.
Melissa:And if you're lucky, we might read your review on a q and r episode. So, but it really does help us and helps to get the word out. And, also, this episode of Chemistry For Your Life is created by Melissa Colini and Jam Robinson. Jam Robinson is our producer, but it's truly made possible by our financial supporters over on Patreon. It means so, so, so much to us that that community wants to help make chemistry accessible to even more people.
Melissa:And those supporters are Latila s, our newest supporter who we met at a coffee hour this week. That was really nice. 3 m, Avishai B, Brian K, Chris and Claire S, Chelsea B, Derek L, Emerson W, Hunter R, Jacob t, Christina g, Karina Katrina h, Lynn s, Melissa p, Nicole c, Nellie s, Steven b, Shadow, Suzanne p, Timothy p, and Venus r. Thank you all again for everything that you do to make chemistry free life happen. We'd also like to give an extra special thanks to Brie who often creates illustrations to go along with our episodes of chemistry free life that you can see on our YouTube channel.
Melissa:And you can thank Bree and support her by going to her website atentropic.art station.com, and the o in Entropic is a 0. We've got a link in our show notes or following her on Twitter at McAllister Brie.
Jam:And if you'd like to learn more about today's chemistry lesson, you can check out the references that we've talked about in this episode on our show notes or in the description of the video.
Melissa:Yay, chemistry.
Jam:Yay, chemistry.