

Chemistry For Your Life
Melissa and Jam, Bleav
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.
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 10, 2020 • 22min
What is silver tarnish?
#073
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.
How to start a podcast. <- Check this out if you've got a podcast idea you want to make happen!
References from this episode
https://chicagoacs.org/articles/176
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed077p328A#:~:text=In%20air%2C%20a%20silver%20object,(1).
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
And seriously, we love using Transistor. 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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dec 3, 2020 • 34min
How do odor absorbers work?
#072
You know what they say, everyone's experienced odors, and 99.99% of all odors smell. We have room sprays, candles, air fresheners, etc. But how can we absorb or eliminate bad smells? Can chemistry do it? How? Let's find out!
How to start a podcast. <- Check this out if you've got a podcast idea you want to make happen!
References from this episode
https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/outreach/celebrating-chemistry/2016-cced-celebrating-chemistry-english.pdf
Structure-Scavenging Abilities of Cyclodextrin-Based Polyurethanes by Sandra K. Young, Peter L. Vajda, Eugene Napadensky, Dawn M. Crawford, James M. Sloan, and Samuel F. Trevino
ACS - reactions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNIIxzR-d_Q&feature=youtu.be
https://helix.northwestern.edu/blog/2015/06/take-whiff-chemistry#:~:text=Febreze%2C%20along%20with%20many%20other,cyclodextrin%20(%CE%B2%2Dcyclodextrin).&text=The%20cyclodextrin%20molecule%20can%20be,oily%E2%80%9D%20and%20immiscible%20with%20water
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
And seriously, we love using Transistor. 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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nov 30, 2020 • 14min
Chemistry at Home: Leaf Pigments
Bonus Episode: Chemistry at Home 7
Here's another bonus episode dedicated to teaching a specific chemistry experiment you can do at home. This month, we see what happens when we cut up different colors of leaves, put them in alcohol, mash them up, and soak a coffee filter in them.
Do you like and want more of these? Is there a way we could make them better? Let us know!
References
The Science of Leaves from KristinMoonScience
How to start a podcast. Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
And seriously, we love using Transistor. 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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nov 26, 2020 • 37min
What happens to eggs when we cook them? (with Jason Cress)
#071
It's time to crack into one of life's great mysteries: eggs. So what happens when we cook them?! How do they go from clear goo to white jiggle? This is a question we received long ago, and with topics this serious, we don't yoke around. So we waiting until we could bring in an eggsperienced egg chef, Jason Cress, to figure out this topic with us. In Jam's opinion, Jason's insight on the topic of eggs just can't be beat. We know many of you guys may be busy with some (hopefully safe) version of Thanksgiving, but despite the holiday we couldn't pass on the chance to shell out another episode for you guys, especially for our friends around the world, who are just experiencing a regular ol' Thursday today. Well without further ado, let's ap-poach this mystery together.
How to start a podcast. <- Check this out if you've got a podcast idea you want to make happen!
References from this episode
Biochemistry Garret & Grisham Fourth Edition
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00319
https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/scibytes/why_do_eggs_hardboil/
https://askabiologist.asu.edu/activities/breaking-proteins
https://chicagoacs.org/articles/126
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
And seriously, we love using Transistor. 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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nov 23, 2020 • 27min
Bonus: Can equilibrium occur in any state of matter? (and other questions)
Bonus Episode: Question and Response 15
In this month's bonus episode, Melissa and Jam respond to comments and questions about equilibrium, recycling on a large scale, why leaves fall off, sound effects, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
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.
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nov 19, 2020 • 25min
How do diapers absorb liquid?
#070
Ok parents. It's time to explore the chemistry of something we rely on every hour of every day: diapers. What the heck is going on inside there? How do they absorb SO much? Is it magic? Well, settle in and get ready to soak up some chemistry, let's get to the bottom of this mystery. Let's hope it doesn't get messy.
How to start a podcast. <- Check this out if you've got a podcast idea you want to make happen!
References from this episode
https://beta-static.fishersci.com/content/dam/fishersci/en_US/documents/programs/education/regulatory-documents/sds/chemicals/chemicals-s/S25565.pdf
https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/outreach/kidschemistry/polymers-teachers-guide-jiggle-gels.pdf
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/adventures-in-chemistry/experiments/diapers.html
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b01373
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/diapers-what-keeps-babies-and-astronauts-from-springing-a-leak/
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/130/4/e1011
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
And seriously, we love using Transistor. 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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nov 12, 2020 • 27min
How is nail polish chemistry?
#069
There's this stuff, you've probably heard of it, that you can put on 10-20 specific places on your body, and it stays there, and it can be different colors. That's right, it's nail polish! What is nail polish? It sticks, but it's obviously not just glue right? It's colorful, but it's clearly not just paint right? What chemistry is going on in nail polish? How is it strong and long lasting? How does it dry so quickly? So many questions, let's get into it!
PS. Some of you fellas may be thinking this won't interest you, but we'll bet the chemistry is more interesting than you'd expect!
How to start a podcast. <- Check this out if you've got a podcast idea you want to make happen!
References from this episode
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2018/acs-presspac-october-10-2018/Nail-polishes-with-n-free-labels-are-not-necessarily-free-of-toxic-compounds.html
https://cen.acs.org/articles/86/i32/Nail-Polish.html
https://www.compoundchem.com/2017/04/06/nail-polish/
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Nitrocellulose#section=3D-Status
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
And seriously, we love using Transistor. 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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nov 5, 2020 • 33min
Is science always right?
#068
This week we issue a correction, joining other science publications issuing the same correction. That's kind of an obvious answer to the question of "Is science always right?" So in this episode we explore that question, as well as what happens when science isn't right. And why that's NOT a bad thing.
NEW MERCH AVAILABLE NOW <- only until November 30!
How to start a podcast. <- Check this out if you've got a podcast idea you want to make happen!
References from this episode
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/reactions/videos/2019/citrus-scent-debunked.html
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jfq.12226
Chemistry by Julia Burdge
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
And seriously, we love using Transistor. 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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Oct 29, 2020 • 35min
How do glowsticks glow?
#067
Guess what time of year it is. It's spooky time! One thing we see a lot of during this time of year, is things that glow. And you better believe that's chemistry. So how do glowsticks glow? How does bending the glowsticks start that process? What's mixing with what, and seriously how the heck does it glow? Let's find out.
NEW MERCH AVAILABLE NOW <- only until November 30!
How to start a podcast. <- Check this out if you've got a podcast idea you want to make happen!
References from this episode
Organic Chemistry, Solomons 11e
Quantitative Chemical Analysis, Daniel C. Harris
Simple Glowmatography: Chromatographic Separation of GlowStick Dyes Using Chalk - Thomas S. Kuntzleman,* Kasey R. Bunker, and Ashlee A. Bartlett
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/fluorescence
https://ocw.mit.edu/high-school/chemistry/demonstrations/videos/anatomy-of-a-glowstick/glowstick.pdf
Glowmatography - Thomas S. Kuntzleman,* Anna E. Comfort, and Bruce W. Baldwin
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
And seriously, we love using Transistor. 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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Oct 26, 2020 • 13min
Chemistry at Home: Cabbage Juice
Bonus Episode: Chemistry at Home 6
Here's another bonus episode dedicated to teaching a specific chemistry experiment you can do at home. This month, we see what happens when we blend up red cabbage and water, and mix it with six different substances.
References
Evaluation of red cabbage dye as a potential natural color for pharmaceutical use Neela Chigurupati, Lani Saiki, Charles Gayser Jr, Alekha K. Dash
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed069p66.1
Do you like and want more of these? Is there a way we could make them better? Let us know!
How to start a podcast. <- Check this out if you've got a podcast idea you want to make happen!
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife.
Email us at chemforyourlife@gmail.com
And check out our chill, simple little website at https://chemforyourlife.transistor.fm/
And seriously, we love using Transistor. 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 ★
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.


