Chemistry For Your Life

Latest Episodes:

What is silver tarnish? Mar 30, 2023

Show notes

#073 Rebroadcast

Well if you haven't experienced silver tarnish yourself, then you've almost certainly heard people complain about it. Can anything last? These sparkly treasures we collect and cherish, are they but temporary sparkles, doomed to a fate of tarnish? Or is there a way out? Also what is tarnish? Thankfully in this case, these philosophical questions actually have a chemistry explanation. So let's get into it.

References from this episode

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Ciara Linville
J0HNTR0Y
Jeannette Napoleon
Cullyn R
Erica Bee
Elizabeth P
Sarah Moar
Rachel Reina
Letila
Katrina Barnum-Huckins
Suzanne Phillips
Nelly Silva
Venus Rebholz
Lyn Stubblefield
Jacob Taber
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Emerson Woodhall
Kristina Gotfredsen
Timothy Parker
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Chelsea B
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How do smoke alarms detect smoke? (part 2) Mar 23, 2023

Show notes

#157

Part Two: When smoke alarms aren't beeping at us to replace their batteries, they are sitting, watching, waiting for the perfect moment, waiting for smoke to happen so they can alert us that a fire may be happening. But how on earth do they detect the presence of smoke? How do they only react to smoke and nothing else? What is going on inside of our little circular, protective friends? Let's find out.

References from this episode

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Ciara Linville
J0HNTR0Y
Jeannette Napoleon
Cullyn R
Erica Bee
Elizabeth P
Sarah Moar
Rachel Reina
Letila
Katrina Barnum-Huckins
Suzanne Phillips
Nelly Silva
Venus Rebholz
Lyn Stubblefield
Jacob Taber
Brian Kimball
Emerson Woodhall
Kristina Gotfredsen
Timothy Parker
Steven Boyles
Chris Skupien
Chelsea B
Bri McAllister
Avishai Barnoy
Hunter Reardon

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.

Want to start your own podcast? Use Transistor and you'll have the best podcast platform available. We use it and we are totally in love with it.

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Bonus: Why do cucumbers upset people's stomachs? (and other questions) Mar 16, 2023

Show notes

Bonus Episode: Question and Response 41

In this month's bonus episode, Melissa and Jam respond to comments and questions about glass cookware, freezing point depression, digesting cucumbers, pasta staining Tupperware, hotdogs being sandwiches, and more!

References from this episode:

https://www.acs.org/molecule-of-the-week/archive/c/cucurbitacins.html#:~:text=Cucurbitacins%20are%20tetracyclic%20terpenes%20with%2Cemetics%2C%20narcotics%2C%20and%20antimalarials

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Ciara Linville
J0HNTR0Y
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Erica Bee
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Letila
Katrina Barnum-Huckins
Suzanne Phillips
Nelly Silva
Venus Rebholz
Lyn Stubblefield
Jacob Taber
Brian Kimball
Emerson Woodhall
Kristina Gotfredsen
Timothy Parker
Steven Boyles
Chris Skupien
Chelsea B
Bri McAllister
Avishai Barnoy
Hunter Reardon

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.

Want to start your own podcast? Use Transistor and you'll have the best podcast platform available. We use it and we are totally in love with it.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How do smoke alarms detect smoke? (part 1) Mar 09, 2023

Show notes

#156

When smoke alarms aren't beeping at us to replace their batteries, they are sitting, watching, waiting for the perfect moment, waiting for smoke to happen so they can alert us that a fire may be happening. But how on earth do they detect the presence of smoke? How do they only react to smoke and nothing else? What is going on inside of our little circular, protective friends? Let's find out.

References from this episode

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Ciara Linville
J0HNTR0Y
Jeannette Napoleon
Cullyn R
Erica Bee
Elizabeth P
Sarah Moar
Rachel Reina
Letila
Katrina Barnum-Huckins
Suzanne Phillips
Nelly Silva
Venus Rebholz
Lyn Stubblefield
Jacob Taber
Brian Kimball
Emerson Woodhall
Kristina Gotfredsen
Timothy Parker
Steven Boyles
Chris Skupien
Chelsea B
Bri McAllister
Avishai Barnoy
Hunter Reardon

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.

Want to start your own podcast? Use Transistor and you'll have the best podcast platform available. We use it and we are totally in love with it.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Baking soda and baking powder: What's the difference? Mar 02, 2023

Show notes

#009 Rebroadcast

Baking powder? Baking soda? I mean they're both white powders with the word "baking" in it. How different could they be? Well, one can cause miniature kitchen volcanos and the other does what? Listen this week as Melissa and Jam talk about acids, bases, baking soda, baking powder, and how they can make all the difference in your busy life as a single parent of three.

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Ciara Linville
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Nelly Silva
Venus Rebholz
Lyn Stubblefield
Jacob Taber
Brian Kimball
Emerson Woodhall
Kristina Gotfredsen
Timothy Parker
Steven Boyles
Chris Skupien
Chelsea B
Bri McAllister
Avishai Barnoy
Hunter Reardon

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Want to start your own podcast? Use Transistor and you'll have the best podcast platform available. We use it and we are totally in love with it.

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How does baking soda eliminate odors? Feb 23, 2023

Show notes

#155

So baking soda, do you bake it? Can you drink it? What's the deal? And specifically for the purposes of this episode, how does it eliminate odors? You may have heard of the idea of placing baking soda in your fridge to eliminate lingering odors, does that work? If so how? Let's bake this soda.

References from this episode

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Ciara Linville
J0HNTR0Y
Jeannette Napoleon
Cullyn R
Erica Bee
Elizabeth P
Sarah Moar
Rachel Reina
Letila
Katrina Barnum-Huckins
Suzanne Phillips
Nelly Silva
Venus Rebholz
Lyn Stubblefield
Jacob Taber
Brian Kimball
Emerson Woodhall
Kristina Gotfredsen
Timothy Parker
Steven Boyles
Chris Skupien
Chelsea B
Bri McAllister
Avishai Barnoy
Hunter Reardon

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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Bonus: Are candles toxic? (and other questions) Feb 16, 2023

Show notes

Bonus Episode: Question and Response 40

In this month's bonus episode, Melissa and Jam respond to comments and questions about smells, candles, vinegar, milk, macromolecules, and more!

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Ciara Linville
J0HNTR0Y
Jeannette Napoleon
Cullyn R
Erica Bee
Elizabeth P
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Rachel Reina
Letila
Katrina Barnum-Huckins
Suzanne Phillips
Nelly Silva
Venus Rebholz
Lyn Stubblefield
Jacob Taber
Brian Kimball
Emerson Woodhall
Kristina Gotfredsen
Timothy Parker
Steven Boyles
Chris Skupien
Chelsea B
Bri McAllister
Avishai Barnoy
Hunter Reardon

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Is freezing point *actually* real? Feb 09, 2023

Show notes

#154

When you're young in science class, you probably learned the phrase "freezing point," but is that even a thing? Is there a specific temperature at which things go from liquid to solid? Spoiler alert: Melissa thinks that's actually a huge misunderstanding about states of matter and how substances go from liquid to solid. So what's really going on? Let's get into it.

References from this episode

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
We love using Transistor to host our podcast -> Check it out to be sure your podcast makes a bang.

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Ciara Linville
J0HNTR0Y
Jeannette Napoleon
Cullyn R
Erica Bee
Elizabeth P
Sarah Moar
Rachel Reina
Letila
Katrina Barnum-Huckins
Suzanne Phillips
Nelly Silva
Venus Rebholz
Lyn Stubblefield
Jacob Taber
Brian Kimball
Emerson Woodhall
Kristina Gotfredsen
Timothy Parker
Steven Boyles
Chris Skupien
Chelsea B
Bri McAllister
Avishai Barnoy
Hunter Reardon

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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How do thermoses keep coffee hot? Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

#033 Rebroadcast

That's right, we are sort of talking about coffee this week. Or rather, how to keep it hot. Nowadays we all have some version of a thermos for our coffee, tea, water, or what-have-you. Today Melissa and Jam try to get to the bottom of how those work. How do they keep things hot and cold? What's between the two layers (or whatever) and how is it so good at insulating? Is it a vacuum? Can someone please tell me what the heck is going on?

References from this episode

Chemistry, Edition 2 - Flowers, Theopold, Langley, Robinson
Physical Chemistry, Edition 3 - Thomas Engel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife. We love using Transistor to host our podcast -> Check it out to be sure your podcast makes a bang.

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Ciara Linville
J0HNTR0Y
Jeannette Napoleon
Cullyn R
Erica Bee
Elizabeth P
Sarah Moar
Rachel Reina
Letila
Katrina Barnum-Huckins
Suzanne Phillips
Nelly Silva
Venus Rebholz
Lyn Stubblefield
Jacob Taber
Brian Kimball
Emerson Woodhall
Kristina Gotfredsen
Timothy Parker
Steven Boyles
Chris Skupien
Chelsea B
Bri McAllister
Avishai Barnoy
Hunter Reardon

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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Is "dry cleaning" actually dry? Jan 26, 2023

Show notes

#153

Whether you're a frequent customer of the dry cleaner or not, you've probably wondered, "why is it called dry cleaning? How could it be dry?" So let's get into it. What is dry cleaning? Why is it called dry? What are they using to clean our clothes? Does it actually work? Let's find out!

References from this episode

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