Chemistry For Your Life

Is your air conditioner secretly doing chemistry while you’re inside pretending summer doesn’t exist? How does it turn hot air into cool air, and why does part of the AC blow out even more heat? In this episode, Melissa and Jam crack open the mysterious black box of air conditioning to explore refrigerants, phase changes, energy transfer, and the surprisingly clever science keeping your house livable. Plus: frozen AC coils, summer survival drinks, and the beginning of Hibiscus Girl Summer.

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Timestamps

00:00 — Could we survive a Texas summer without air conditioning?

01:52 — Opening the mysterious black box that is your AC

02:50 — Traditional air conditioners vs. swamp coolers

03:33 — The two chemistry concepts behind air conditioning

04:38 — Understanding energy transfer through human collisions

05:49 — Phase changes explained using a crowded theater

10:30 — How an AC removes energy from hot air

14:20 — What happens inside the refrigerant coils

15:46 — Cooling and recycling the refrigerant

18:50 — Do refrigerators work the same way?

23:19 — Why would ice form inside a broken AC?

28:42 — Our favorite treats and drinks for surviving hot weather

References from the Episode:

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Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

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J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

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Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

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Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Support this podcast on Patreon
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#044 Rebroadcast

You know what we're talking about. That spectacular fizzy geyser. This week, Melissa and Jam explore what makes diet coke and mentos go crazy together. Is it love? Is it hate? Is it chemistry? Why diet coke specifically? Or more importantly, why mentos? Let's get into it.

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References from this episode

Diet Coke and Mentos: What is really behind this physical reaction? - American Journal of Physics 76, 551 (2008)

Diet Coke and Mentos: What is really behind this physical reaction? - Tonya Coffey

Spurting Science: Erupting Diet Coke with Mentos - Scientific American - Science Buddies

 
Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Support this podcast on Patreon
Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

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#135 Rebroadcast

Well guess what, Melissa is a PhD Doctor now! And you know what that means? She gets to tell us more details about the research she did to get her PhD. Listen to hear what Melissa found as she dove deep into the question "Why do people hate organic chemistry?" for the past few years.

References from this episode

National Research Council, (2012), Discipline-based education research: Understanding and improving learning in undergraduate science and engineering, The National Academies Press.

Graulich N., (2015), The tip of the iceberg in organic chemistry classes: How do students deal with the invisible? Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 16(1), 9–21.

Xu X. and Lewis J. E., (2011), Refinement of a chemistry attitude measure for college students. J. Chem. Educ., 88(5), 561–568.

Gibbons R. E. and Raker J. R., (2019), Self-beliefs in organic chemistry: Evaluation of a reciprocal causation, cross-lagged model. J. Res. Sci. Teach., 56(5), 598–618.

 
Support this podcast on Patreon

Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

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Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

 

Support this podcast on Patreon

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What if the biggest challenge in chemistry education isn’t helping students survive—but helping them thrive? In this final bonus episode of our BCCE Community Conversation series, Melissa talks with Dr. Leyte Winfield about creating learning environments where students feel like they belong. They discuss moving beyond “weed-out” culture, designing courses that maintain high standards while expanding opportunity, and why the future of chemistry depends on empowering talented students rather than simply filtering them out. It’s a fitting conclusion to a series all about rethinking how we teach and learn chemistry.

 
Important Links

Submit a Question for Community Conversations

bcce.divched.org/2026

YouTube.com/@chemforyourlife

chemforyourlife.com

 
Timestamps

0:00 – Introducing the final BCCE Community Conversation

2:40 – Meet Leyte Winfield and the vision behind “Shifting the Equilibrium”

4:25 – From “weed out” culture to empowering student success

9:30 – Success-oriented vs. deficit-oriented teaching

13:30 – Practical ways to help students thrive without lowering standards

16:00 – Open deadlines, accountability, and lessons from COVID

18:40 – Connecting chemistry to students’ everyday lives

20:00 – Why organic chemistry shouldn’t be about memorization

22:20 – Rethinking mentoring and preparing the next generation of chemists

27:40 – Wrapping up the BCCE series and looking ahead

 
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#028

This week, Melissa and Jam travel even further down the rabbit hole of hair chemistry. How does our hair get damaged? How do we curl, straighten, and perm our hair? What's going on there at the molecular level? Let's find out!

References from this episode

Biochemistry, Edition 4 - Garret and Grisham

Making waves: The chemistry of hair perms - Christine Herman, Chemistry & Engineering News

How Did the 80s Get Hair So Big? - American Chemical Society

The Chemistry of Hair - C. S. Whewell, Ph.D., F.R.I.C., F.T.I.

The Science of Curls - Leidamarie Tirado-Lee

Support this podcast on Patreon
Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

 

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Support this podcast on Patreon
Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

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