Chemist Answers Chemistry Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

[@JonahIronstone]

It's a rare person who can explain a specialist field to a lay crowd so effectively and with such passion. If I'd had a science teacher like you at any point in school, it would for sure have influenced my level of interest and potential future career path. Thank you for doing what you do and helping the rest of us understand chemistry a bit better.

[@CL-we8tn]

I'll second that. Finally understand molecules.

[@wifiradio1145]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pojJo2Sra6-terM. . . . . .

[@jjcoola998]

I was so lucky to have a history teacher like this! Totally changes things

[@deeangelt]

she was my chemistry professor this past year, she’s rlly amazing :)

[@davidluna7]

you think people would stop giving excuses for everything they are too lazy to do

[@kelseyk68]

Poor PJ just trying to have fun on Twitter and getting absolutely dragged lmao

[@v1ntagecassette]

Give pj his checkmark back, he worked so very hard for it

[@birdtutorialart]

Can’t believe PJs tweet was in here 😭😭

[@ItachiUchiha-gf4fz]

11:02 you know that she's a *Mad* Scientist judging by how she mixes that slime🤣

[@ITILII]

Two of my very favorites: Kate the Chemist and astrobiologist Dr. David Grinspoon...both truly brilliant and enthusiastic, they just demonstrate it in different ways. Especially appreciate it when Dr. Grinspoon says how much he loves Wall-E.....the reaction of some of most brilliant people on the planet for a cartoon is truly endearing :-)

[@OracleAnne]

Another way older lava lamps worked was with fluid and semi solid wax! When the wax was solid, it was denser than the fluid and would sink, but when the whole thing was heated by a lightbulb, the liquid wax could float and be moved around by the hot liquid. Different kinds of lava lamps!

[@hantrio4327]

I think every lava lamp works like that

[@MOLPESIMS]

I wish I had you as a teacher, you can explain chemistry like a genius! I will use your examples when I help kids with chemistry for sure! ♥

[@Le_Fenix]

Just used Ryan and Blake as an analogy for chemistry, I’m impressed

[@aapddd]

Her enthusiasm is infectious !

[@jaibhagat7441]

Never seen such energetic teacher before

[@laijamanuel]

I love the people in these videos, they are so passionate about their area of knowledgeable, and answer everything on a simple way.

[@CellRus]

Do a biochemist or cell biologist please! I think people would love to hear more about these lesser known area of science (relative to the general audience of course).

[@hathawyn]

She loves chemistry so much. I don't, but I do love her.

[@wario7514]

Wow who is this pj dude? He should make a KZbin channel...

[@yasminh]

I love how her passion shines through it makes me so excited about chemistry :D

[@shubhsrivastava4417]

Her explanations and analogies were very good.

[@HWme]

5:34 I always knew Gandalf was well lectured in Chemistry!!! 🎆

[@MakeyJu]

lmaooo they got PJ's joke tweet on there

[@CadetSparkleWolf]

I really thought it might’ve been a joke holy cow they really edited out the verified check and used PJ’s tweet I’m SHOOK! 😭

[@ShrimpKing3333]

#JusticeforPJ

[@frankjohnson123]

I'm pretty sure the reason atoms are hard to pass through is because of electrostatic repulsion or nuclear forces, not because the nucleus is very dense. F = ma, so as long as you can transfer a force to a low-mass object you can move it easily, regardless of density.

[@onyxbackstrom3379]

This channel is so freaking cool that experts can educate people and boy they do a dang good job! Although the slime I'm used to wasn't as, foamy/marshmallow looking. Not as viscous as I'm used to.

[@scottieapplseed]

She is more bubbly than devil's toothpaste! Love that passion.

[@alxferraro]

I love seeing super excited people talking about topics they love!!! 😍

[@jatin368]

I love her enthusiasm and energy, she really loves her profession

[@SyntaxScout]

She is incredibly adorable,i learned more chemistry with her than my entire school days.

[@0mnom]

I’m confused, I thought boiling happened at different temperatures according to altitude, for example, on the top of Mount Everest, wouldn’t water boil at a lower temperature due to the thinner atmosphere?

[@spookyspacekook4327]

Where were the safety goggles for the slime lab??

[@sentheinfo9377]

she's such a sweetheart omg.

[@sussycat6667]

I am not trying to start an argument whatsoever, but I was a bit curious about the most dangerous chemical reaction and I found that there was one particular explosive called Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) that was more explosive while still being extremely sensitive (I couldn't find out if it was more sensitive or not).

[@TheSleepSteward]

Why is this only JUST getting into my recommended??

[@EduardoWalcacer]

As a chemist, this was a very difficult video to watch. All answers were based on high school chemistry knowledge. Do Americans skip their chemistry classes? Also, the lava lamp answer was wrong. They are composed of wax (solid at room temp and liquid when heated), kerosene, polyethylene glycol and water. The movement is only possible because of a heat source. Regarding everything being made of chemicals (matter), possibly only 15% of the universe is chemistry. The rest is dark matter and we still lack the knowledge to explain it.

[@Koshrocreations]

She also replied wrongly to a question. The person said "if atoms are mostly empty, why can't we pass our hands through materials". She replied about the nuclei being dense so we can never touch the nuclei. She didn't answer at all.

[@fremen8466]

@@Koshrocreations Not to mention she wrongly stated that humans don't have pheromones. LOL.

[@espanadorada7962]

Yeah I was kinda excited but none of the questions were remotely interesting :(

[@LeBeautiful]

I need a chemist to explain the most effective type of SPF for daily usage. Hmmm.

[@nnamrehck]

The size of the nucleus is femtometers (10e-15 meters). The size of the atom is on the order of nanometers (10e-9 meters). The reason your hand will not pass through another object is due to the electrostatic force.

[@nathanielmiller2101]

Just want to point out that she glosses over why fireworks are different colors. The person asking the question probably wasn't referring to the fact that fireworks are explosive, might have been more interested as to what made the colors in the firework.

[@set-tes4316]

My ex told me we were like hypobromic acid (if I remember correctly) and that we matched for sure but eventually we disolved in search of stability, idk if his analogy was scientifically accurate but I found it fitting

[@Danapher]

1:56 spooked me

[@ethanmckinney203]

Slightly wrong on the Diet Coke. Diet sodas have a lower surface tension than regular sodas due to the characteristics of the artificial sweeteners. You can find videos of some very careful experiments with a variety of sodas. The diet colas shoot much higher than anything else.

[@LeatherCladVegan]

Dear Kate: How does one represent a line drawing of methane? Is it just a dot? I am confused and I can't find the answer anywhere. Thank you :)

[@Dani-it5sy]

The most dangerous chemical reaction must be one that finds place inside someones brain.

[@matthijscalje4143]

If only my chemistry teacher was like this...

[@lifesrevolter]

As someone who has taught chemistry, I’m very impressed by her explanations and even more enamoured by her passion for chemistry

[@sisakhoza4739]

She needs to rewrite all the textbooks, her analogies make sense

[@10names55]

Its because she is making expressions too,when her words will be printed as cold letters,i bet for those don't understand chem will find it boring

[@IsaoTakeuchi]

and change our science teacher too

[@sisakhoza4739]

@@IsaoTakeuchi you want her to rewrite your teacher? 💀

[@IsaoTakeuchi]

@@sisakhoza4739 omg, no. I was typo

[@sisakhoza4739]

@@IsaoTakeuchi gave me a good laugh though 😂

[@amaradejo]

OK, so this was THE test for me: I absolutely despised chemistry in high school and I'm not a fan now. But she really made the topics interesting with her fun analogies, her excited energy and her charm. Tech Support is a gem. I swear, every guest is wonderful.

[@keirmccoy8623]

Absolutely agree. I hated chemistry as well but I could listen to her forever, her enthusiasm is totally infectious!

[@duckymomo7935]

to do real chemistry, you do need to do computations and theoretical stuff... there's not other way around the boring parts

[@everythingsalright1121]

@@duckymomo7935 yeah, but it'd be nice if the teachers weren't complete jerks. all of my chem teachers were utterly dispassionate when it came to teaching the subject in a way that high schoolers would understand. my grade 12 chem teacher was so condescending a bunch of people just dropped her class after like 2 weeks

[@squeezter]

School chemistry doesnt do a good representation of the science at all

[@WilhelmFreidrich]

​@@duckymomo7935wrong

[@DaniGG0]

She literally was my professor at UT Austin!! She’s the best!!!! It’s so cool to see her do this!!

[@orgchem3359]

We just started presenting one paper each week in organic chemistry literature; here is the link... kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYGzo2ibo7yjlZo

[@halicusnguyen8864]

That's so cool!!

[@ETaicx]

Dammit I was supposed to go to UT. I should've went , she would've been worth it hahaha

[@infinitesimotel]

BUT was she REALLY your professor?

[@MrrrrAdryan]

​@@infinitesimotel Obviously, lol

[@Magic_beans_]

Yes PJ was joking, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t know what chemicals are and assume they’re always dangerous.

[@onkelpappkov2666]

R-r-radiation?!

[@miaomiaochan]

I chuckle whenever I see "chemical-free" or "ingredients you can pronounce" in a product description. How many minds would be blown if they'd known that their beloved essential oils contained scary-sounding chemicals like alpha-terpineol, beta-caryophyllene and phenylpropanoids?

[@StorymasterQ]

@@miaomiaochan Or even Dihydrogen Monoxide.

[@princexyz1663]

People think chemical is poison or toxic substances or bad material

[@helenchelmicka7894]

​@@StorymasterQlol or even Sodium Chloride

[@tubthungusbychumbungus]

this is absolutely the first time kickthepj has ever been featured in a youtube video. congrats to kickthepj for making it onto youtube!!

[@ghost_nunya]

his tweet was so funny, i hope he starts a youtube channel! i'm sure he would make a lot of creative content and would do very well

[@livingdeaddoll.]

what a funny guy!! would probably be a great person for creating silly goofy content on youtube :D

[@GEOgraphicdesigner]

And maybe stream on Twitch too, zamn

[@vivekcreate3455]

Good unig

[@wifiradio1145]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pojJo2Sra6-terM. . . . . . . .

[@alicia1463]

Dr. Biberdorf is a fantastic explainer. I would love to hear her give a talk/lecture.

[@mantisbog]

I’m sure you would.

[@amakaokafor7624]

She’s a chemistry professor at my school University of Texas at Austin !!

[@リンゴ酢-b8g]

she can give me something else

[@ryanlowther9899]

I had a semester with her! it was incredible she's the nicest person and definitely the most passionate professor I've had at UT

[@yellstr]

OMG, her answer to "why can't I pass my hand through a solid object?" is absolutely wrong! Nucleus has absolutely nothing to do with it! It is all electro-static force: the electrons in the atoms zip so fast that they form a "cloud" around the nuclei. And since these clouds are made of electrons they have negative electric charge, and similar charges repel. Thus, the electron clouds around the atoms of your hand and a table start repelling each other when you get them close enough. Also your hand can't "exchange electrons" with the table - when atoms "exchange" electrons that is how molecules are formed. And you do not form new molecules each time you touch the table.

[@jitenyasu]

This is an important correction and needs to be pinned

[@nilswilling]

Omg I thought the same thing. Altough in reality electrons don't move around the nucleus, but have a superposition which we call orbitals, but still you're absolutely right it's not the nucleus its all just electric fields.

[@tonyatthebeach]

Ditto. I'm not even a scientist and even I knew it's the electromagnetic forces that keep atoms apart. Essentially the universe is more energy than mass, even though they're interchangeable-ish

[@ElDuende402]

you guys sound a lot smarter than me so correct me if I'm wrong but... mathematically speaking it is possible to go through solid objects... just that the odds are so small it will most likely never happen... or maybe i misunderstood kyle hill 😅😓

[@nilswilling]

@@ElDuende402 You're right-ish. In solid objects the electron orbitals are packed so dense together there is (depending on the thickness) no free straight path through. That means there is no way to pass trough the object. However if you're a charged ion without electrons at all (eg alpha particle) and the solid material is sufficiently thin, than it's absolutely possible to pass right through (Rutherfords gold foil experiment showed that).

[@lucimorningstar812]

OMG poor PJ. First removing his checkmark and then actually answering his joke tweet?

[@TheKoopaBros]

I just graduated with my Bachelors in Chemistry, and she's much better at explaining general chemistry theories in an understandable way than most of my professors. 😅

[@sussyscylla3414]

Don't you learn this stuff in year 11-12 at school?

[@danielsvoboda6233]

The problem is, she doesn't... Some of the responses are inaccurate or even flat out misleading

[@oktovria]

The Ryan Blake analogy tho 🤣

[@semblanteelmerg.5956]

What a creative way to explain double replacement reaction. LOL

[@jp9707]

I feel so sorry for their original dates 😔 Now I'm convinced that will happen to me, thanks for the anxiety KZbin 😂

[@yevgeniyaleshchenko849]

@@jp9707 Well those original dates are actually lucky to not end up with partners who are not right for them. Maybe they went on to meet someone more suitable for them

[@PoppyVelluto]

i’m here for kick the pj

[@TheScareLab]

The fact she answered him is killing me

[@tinystarfields]

aren't we all

[@thelogIady]

she edited out his verified mark 😭

[@GrubbyPigeon]

I HAVENT SEEN THAT NAME SINCE I WAS 15

[@slowazzd2165]

Is he actually that stupid or is it a satire account

[@cameronmcclean6642]

Glad I’m not the only one who was stupidly excited to see PJ pop up

[@corvuspika]

i can’t believe you dragged pj through the dirt like that 😭 POOR BOY WAS HAVING A JONK

[@Skyhighjettalone]

I don't want to rain on the parade for everyone who's enjoying the video, but that analogy for why objects don't pass through other solid objects didn't seem correct to me. I may be misunderstanding her explanation but I'm pretty sure the nucleus isn't coming in contact with other nuclei. They are not only incredibly small compared to the electron cloud surrounding it. But a positively charged nucleus would repel another positively charged nucleus, no contact possible there without an insane amount of energy. I could be wrong, and there could be a better way to explain it, I'm open to being corrected.

[@jwildan]

In terms of touching something, you would be able to get as close as you can to anything else. I think it would have been better if she explained how states of matter and energy relate. Like how it's easier to push your hand through air compared to water because of the speed a molecule is moving at. You could put your hand through a solid object if you gave it enough energy to move its dense mass but then it would probably no longer be a solid (and would also be a ton of energy). Her explanation makes sense but it feels very incomplete and may have just been cut down by the editing team.

[@TheJoyBinkley]

the visualization of electrons as accessories is so helpful though.

[@TheScarvig]

the thing is that half of the questions weren't chemistry related at all... so she just kept talking with what amounts to pretty much the same amount of knowledge any person with a degree in any stem field could.

[@joshuamitchell5530]

No you’re right her explanation is just wrong. If you’re at the point where 2 atomic nuclei are coming close to each other, this implies the electron densities of the atoms have overlapped, ie formed a chemical bond. Not what happens when you touch something. When you touch something ur feeling the Inter-electron repulsions. Nothing to do with the nuclei.

[@auth7046]

@@jwildan thats not why you cant put your hand through solid objects, you dont need more energy to move the atoms, you need more energy to deform the structure.

[@kasparalindberg6407]

I can't believe she's answering PJ's unhinged tweet 😂

[@iamtheusualguy2611]

The word "chemicals" these days get a bad name in many fields but chemistry and chemicals as a whole is actually super interesting and useful.

[@joanna0988]

Yup it's been overused like many buzz words and loses its actual meaning.

[@onkelpappkov2666]

- Wait, you want me to drink this poison that will kill me? - Don't worry, it's natural and organic. - Oh okay, I'm relieved.

[@yevgeniyaleshchenko849]

@@onkelpappkov2666 Lol

[@Vacillate-v9e]

It's the Carbon Florine bonded chemicals in kitchen utensils, clothes and other places that are creating pollution for millenniums of years. They are already in the water. Plus air and soil too.

[@user-fk8zw5js2p]

The term chemicals adds a subjectively negative meaning to substances so that people don't have to study chemistry to understand: that stuff is dangerous, unpredictable, and thus bad for me. Problem is in the age of misinformation, chemicals can be used instead to get people to agree with their opinion. Kind of the same as laws are good and we want those, but regulations are bad and we don't want those.

[@abdelm4lek]

Her excitement and energy is contagious. Glad she's been brought back!

[@uncletrash8770]

I thought lava lamps were filled with wax and some liquid, and the wax gets warmed up by the bulb at the bottom, it rises, cools down and falls, so it can melt and start the process again. No gas is involved.

[@humanicd]

That's how I understand it. Kerosene and paraffin was my understanding.

[@nosamnosam123]

Yeah, I don't know what she was talking about, and I'd hate to say she doesn't either. It sounded like she was making assumptions without actually knowing.

[@AstroSandee]

It's usually wax and water

[@CopperTOPDave]

And here's a 3rd misinformed statement she's made - @wired pull this vid please. its inaccurate to say the least.

[@londonalicante]

You are correct. Wax expands more with temperature than water does. She is wrong.

[@EIrondx]

An absolute energizer bunny professor. The ideal chem professor for ALL ages 👏🏻

[@Tesserex]

3:45 umm that explanation is just wrong? The nuclei are so small there's almost no chance of them colliding with each other. The reason you can't pass objects through each other is because their electron clouds are all negatively charged and thus repel each other. What she described with the nuclei smacking together would imply you've achieved a fusion reaction every time you touch something.

[@danielmirandacastro7161]

Indeed

[@jwildan]

I think she was trying to explain why the amount of energy you could put on a solid object isn't enough to push through it like you can with liquids or gas. I'm gonna assume it's some editing cut of the explanation as it's sorely incomplete. It could be enough to get the concept through to the average viewer if explained more even if you can't actually touch a nuclei in most settings.

[@Tesserex]

@@jwildan I can't really find a way to be charitable enough to salvage her answer. She only mentioned mass density of the nuclei which has literally nothing to do with it. She didn't even use the word "charge" or anything associated with the EM force in her explanation. I guess maybe it could have been lost in the edit, but it would have to be a pretty consciously malicious editor to mangle it that badly.

[@Twiggyshayz]

Exactly! was looking for this comment, thx

[@edbangor9163]

I know that the Pauli exclusion principle is physics and not chemistry, but fundamentally, it is the reason why solids are solid. If you want to dumb it down for a mass audience, she could have said the electrons repel each other, as it at least would kinda be close. The thing about nuclei being dense was so inaccurate. I learned a basic version of the exclusion principle in high school physics. For a chemist to be that wrong is rather sad.

[@AuroraFirestorm]

Wait a second. The reason that you can't pass your hand through a solid object, is because the electrons in the atoms in your hand repel the electrons in the atoms in the object. Nuclei take up basically no space, they're not big, except in the really enormous lab-made elements, so what is this thing about smacking into nuclei?

[@stormixgaming8389]

Yeah completely blindsided by this as well, as soon as the question was asked I was expecting the electrostatic force as the response, needless to say I was very surprised at the explanation and I'm currently somewhat skeptical of it. Naturally most things in these explainers have to necessarily be over simplified, but I can't find a way to make the two compatible.

[@BZakaBZ]

Yeah that answers was straight up wrong 😅

[@AnnieAcrux]

Exactly!!! I was pretty shocked hearing the answer she gave. Electromagnetism helloo? Not only brushing off the electron cloud, saying you can "bump into a nucleus"? Like what, you talking about nuclear fusion? Ahah Aaand you think the nucleus is big? it is 1/100.000 of the size of the atom ffs xD i know chemists are not quantum physicists but.....breh

[@cj0815]

It's a bit more complicated as the atom is still neutral. AFAIK the full answer lies in quantum mechanics as electrons can not be in the same place and same quantum state. So if you push the electron clouds of two atoms together, some of the electrons would need to jump to higher energy states.

[@bryaneberly3588]

better thought of as "smacking into the strong-nuclear force, which binds the neutrons and protons together." which happens to be so strong, and containing so much energy, that when we are actually able to break through the strong-nuclear force, we can wipe out cities with it and power millions of homes.

[@taraascanlon]

rip PJ’s verification tick, also did you just happen across his tweet and decide to use it in the video??

[@tinystarfields]

oh hi PJ

[@thelogIady]

Pj is bringing so many people here you guys better give him his royalties

[@taidko376]

The fact that she actually answered Pjs' tweet plz

[@isobelf1837]

Jonked too close to the sun, pj

[@invox9490]

She's all perky and fun, and explains everything quite well. I like her.

[@ronozoh]

The reason why we can't pass through each other is not the "incredibly dense nucleus of atoms" it's the strength of the repulsion of the electromagnetic field of electrons, primarily.

[@9000leo]

Thats right...

[@erikl1478]

@@9000leo yeah as a chemist myself i have to say that there were some "inaccuracies" and also a defintly false statements like this in this video. I get that its hard to simplify many concepts so that a non-science person understands, but still...

[@9000leo]

@@erikl1478 Watched the other chem support vid featuring Kate, got the same disappointment unfortunately. She's commenting the use of HF for dissolving flesh in Breaking Bad was not great because it's a weak acid... But I thought whether a substance is corrosive doesn't really have to do with its acidity...

[@ghostlain]

pj no oh my god

[@themaddiemads]

I honestly really didn't like chemistry in school, because I found it so hard to understand, but no one ever made the effort to explain it like this! The way you broke everything down, and added so much enthusiasm actually made all of these answers make sense!

[@rosettachristopher6981]

You can tell she loves chemistry. Love her vibe❤

[@Marizjenne]

PJ sent me here

[@thelogIady]

can't believe kickthepj is famous now

[@minervamanuel5888]

LMAO PJ what did you do

[@bjd1980]

The passing your hand through question Was entered incorrectly. It's because of the electromagnetic force. The nucleus does not take up a lot of space in an atom it's very dense yes, but it takes up a very small amount in space

[@taraascanlon]

where’s all my fellow sweet potats!?

[@semblanteelmerg.5956]

What a creative way to explain double replacement reaction in a nutshell😂. I'm now a fan.

[@hammyliu1]

Her analogy isn't rigourous though. She doesn't explain chemical equilibrium in her analogy.

[@stripyrex_gaming]

@@hammyliu1 i would find it weird for it to be rigorous when it's mean to be explained within a minute to a wide array of audience

[@sunnyday_lemonbars]

@@hammyliu1 laypeople aren't going to understand that

[@ynneper]

PJ in the thumbnail 👀

[@TheScareLab]

And she answers him at 2:34!!!

[@shivb2950]

@@TheScareLab no this person is laughing bc kickthepj is a famous youtuber lmao

[@TheScareLab]

@@shivb2950 I know, I was pointing out that she actually answered his off-the-rail tweet as well as putting him in the thumbnail.

[@thelogIady]

but edited his verified checkmark out😶

[@TheScareLab]

@@thelogIady I know, right? The cheek of it.

[@embaggins]

PJ's question is at 2:30 for those who want to see it 😌

[@c0smic.dw3ller]

thanks lol

[@jhunphillip123]

came here to check if kickthepj really is in this video, and he is

[@wailingalen]

This is the type of person that should be a professor or textbook author. People like this beautiful and intelligent woman makes us realize how unpassionate a lot of my schoolteachers were. A great teacher can make a huge difference in the future of our generations

[@yevgeniyaleshchenko849]

She is both actually.

[@chrislive1586]

"Beautiful and..."

[@lucasl8689]

Despite her passionate approach to teaching, a number of her answers have rather significant scientifically errors (her explanation as to why objects don't pass through each other and the mechanics of a typical lava lamp are entirely wrong). Regrettably, camps in education tend to boil down to passion "or" expertise (I use quotes as the camps present a false dichotomy). Many teachers and professors lean to the other side of that dichotomy, emphasizing accuracy without passion. Neither, on its own, is very effective, and I suspect the very existence of that dichotomy creates a sort of feedback loop. Those that focus on accuracy find themselves having to un-teach a lot of errors that had been taught by a "fun teacher," while those that focus on enthusiasm find themselves having to re-teach students how to enjoy learning. The truly great teachers are the ones who find harmony between both methods.

[@ClashOfClans252]

Nah. She should only be a teacher. Leave textbooks to the brilliant minds.

[@hhhaaaaf]

they should've kept PJ's tweet in the thumbnail but give him back the verification mark lol

[@beepbeep8769]

4:00 bill nye said that the reason you can’t pass through solid objects is because like charges repel each other so we interpret them as solid. strange how she (a chemist) has a completely different response than a physicist

[@danfg7215]

I was baffled by her explanation even though she's obviously dumbing it down for the laymen, AFAIK it's mostly the electrons which are repelling each other and maintaining bonds with other atoms, protons have barely anything to do with why solids can't pass through each other, but I'm no expert.

[@stormixgaming8389]

It's pretty much just wrong unless this was cut in the most ungodly manner possible. Hard to really save the explanation.

[@danreyn]

I mean you knew there was going to be some wrong stuff when she said everything around us is chemistry. Everything is physics; chemistry is just how elements interact with other elements

[@beepbeep8769]

pj!!!

[@Koshrocreations]

Finally something up my ally. Chemist here, enjoying this. Also you can break a bond between atoms just by giving them enough energy.

[@TremendousSax]

Alley*

[@yevgeniyaleshchenko849]

@@TremendousSax That was obviously just a typo, come on!

[@TremendousSax]

@@yevgeniyaleshchenko849 yes, it was obviously a typo

[@Lurkily_Esh]

These are not the same lava lamps of my childhood. These were just wax in some liquid that was right on the edge of wax's density, so that when it was molten, it rose, and when it began to cool, it sank. The light at the bottom heated and melted it.

[@CopperTOPDave]

it hasnt changed...she's actually just wrong.

[@sethp26]

3:52 electrostatic repulsion between the electrons in your hand and the table causes you to not be able to put your hand through it, not the nucleus

[@edbangor9163]

Pauli exclusion principle, technically, but anything with electrons would be more accurate than the description she gave.

[@sethp26]

@@edbangor9163 i mean kinda... pauli exclusion principle is why electrons dont all chill in the same spot/ form interior and valence shells, they can't be identical particles. it doesn't have much to do with why your hand can't pass through a table. You have to have quantum tunneling on a macroscopic scale to actually do that. The question is so absurd it doesn't really have a concrete answer at least without a butt ton of math

[@espanadorada7962]

@@edbangor9163 it’s not Pauli exclusion principle, it’s just electrostatic repulsion

[@florianm9693]

@@espanadorada7962 look up the repulsive term of interaction potentials like the lennard jones potential and you will see that it always has a much shorter range than r^-2. this shows that the repulsion is a quantum mechanic effect namely the pauli repulsion

[@leiajiang7877]

My guy whose asking why there's chemical in his brain blows my mind.

[@Spacey_Mad]

Oh god PJ-

[@astroch]

As a physicist, many of her answers trigger me. They are just wrong. Like the empty atoms one.

[@NueThunderKing]

Yeah, like even chemists know how much space is between the electrons and the nucleus, and even if the atoms are bonded in molecules, you have tiny points with lots of space between them with absolutely no matter in between. The answer here was freaking electromagnetic fields.

[@mommyaisha9057]

Im a chemist and I also agree with you

[@Laurennn]

Some people are born to be teachers. Kate is one of them.

[@vectorwolf]

This is months old so I've no idea if anyone will see it, but the explanation of the lava lamp function isn't correct. Although it does contain oil and water, the process is thermal, not mechanical. The lamps have a fairly high voltage incandescent light in the base, this both serves to illuminate the lamp, and more importantly heat the heavier of the two liquids. It then floats to the top because it's density is reduced, until it cools off and drops back to the bottom. This is aided by the narrow top of the conical lamp, speeding the transfer of heat a bit. None of them that I've ever seen rely on carbonation.

[@klas666]

Right! How in her explanation carbon dioxide is supposed to get back to the bottom to repeat the cycle?

[@oblivion45602]

The "not being able to pass your hand through a solid object" I thought was more due to electromagnetic repulsion (more of a physics question at that point). Loved the electron passing as gloves analogy bit, though.

[@sven6345]

8:28 unbelievably what?

[@Sameeer_Saker]

I just love seeing people being excited to explain things

[@nelly5376]

Why did PJ's tweet make it in to this lmaoo

[@djungelskog3434]

My condolences to American chemistry students that have to use Fahrenheit

[@Omar-wq9dz]

If she was my chemistry teacher, I would have made good grades, since I sucked at chemistry back when I was in high school