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Th percentis Gental Smash All Day Electricity 20 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:07.840 Unit rates in twenty nine percent of Gassi unit rates. 21 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:10.040 See porcoshenijydtta you for full seas and seas. 22 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:14.439 Oh hey, it's the pigeon staring at you on your 23 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:18.120 lunch break while you eat a salad. Ali ward back 24 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:21.680 with another episode of Ologies, So if you listen to 25 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:24.480 the last two episodes, you may now have quite a 26 00:01:24.519 --> 00:01:28.439 handle on the US Constitution. What did you do? Will 27 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:31.040 you listened? Did you work on a macroma project? Did 28 00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:33.680 you drive through Kentucky? Did you water color a picture 29 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:35.920 of a fish? Maybe you cleaned a toilet. I kind 30 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:38.560 of hope you cleaned a toilet because it's apt for 31 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:42.560 upcoming elections. And also this episode will know joke get 32 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:47.000 you pumped about glistening ceramic and crisp linen. So dust 33 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:50.719 off your brain webs. Let's get fresh. Okay, but before 34 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:53.079 I do, first off, thank you everyone who has told 35 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:57.760 another living person about Ologies. Thanks to everyone wearing Ologies 36 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:01.359 merch from ologiesmerch dot com. Thanks to all the folks 37 00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:04.719 on Patreon who submit questions, and to all the folks 38 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:07.879 who have rated Ologies and subscribed and kept it up 39 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.360 in the charts and who have left reviews for me 40 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:14.199 to read. By flickering lamplight when I feel vulnerable, such 41 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.919 as Pam runs happy, who said, if you've ever made 42 00:02:18.199 --> 00:02:21.280 loved ones, wait while you looked under one more rock, 43 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:24.639 or walked around one more corner, or read one more placard, 44 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:27.759 you have found a home adologies. It is the siblinghood 45 00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:32.400 of enthusiastic learners. Pam, thank you much, Lee from old 46 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:34.879 Pappy Dad word, I'm here to give you some weird 47 00:02:34.919 --> 00:02:38.719 facts and puns and make you pancakes on Saturdays and 48 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:41.199 tell you about why I'm opping floors is a great 49 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:45.360 science experiment. Let's get into it. So disinfectology. Once again, 50 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:47.599 I did not make this up. It is not a 51 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:50.840 commonly used word. It is a word that exists, but 52 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:54.840 apparently only in Russia by one college, where there is 53 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:00.520 a disinfecteology program at some Moscow university. But it exists. Okay, 54 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:03.240 so we're going with it because this chemist has spent 55 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:07.599 over a decade figuring out how bleach works. Here's the deal. 56 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.159 I got an email from Clorox up in the Bay Area, 57 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:12.360 my old stomping grounds, and they were like, Hey, we're 58 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.960 inviting some science communicators to tour research labs. You want 59 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.680 to come learn what the funk bleach is? And I thought, 60 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:21.840 what the funk is bleach? And heck yeah, And suddenly 61 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:25.319 there I was in a lab coat and goggles, smelling 62 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:29.759 things and watching laundry under black lights, living every social 63 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:33.319 media influencer's dream. Well it was my dream. And I 64 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:36.719 had just agreed to post a few hashtag sponsored photos, 65 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:38.759 but the facts were so great that I brought my 66 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:42.400 equipment along in case I could record. But this scientist 67 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:44.960 was busy sciencing and touring us around. So we got 68 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:46.879 on the horn when I got back to LA and 69 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:49.439 I had him record into his phone memo app, and 70 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:52.240 it sounds pretty dang decent, and we talked all about 71 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:55.000 things that I didn't even learn in the facility, but 72 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:57.800 I really wanted you guys to know. So chemistry fans, 73 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:02.719 clean freaks, history buffs, folks who are on a Mariecondo 74 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:07.800 kick months later and still want sparkling surroundings, anyone interested 75 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:10.960 in podable water in emergencies, or what's in the pool 76 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:13.680 you're swimming it, Or anyone right now who may be 77 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:16.879 staring out of a train window is wondering what is bleach? 78 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:18.160 What is it? 79 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:20.920 Snap on some rubber gloves and get ready to fill 80 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:25.120 your buckets with the perfect ratio of everyday helpful hints 81 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:28.800 and some bizarre science facts with a senior scientist and 82 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:53.120 technically disinfectologist, doctor Evan Rumberger. Is it, doctor Evan Rumberg? 83 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:53.480 It is? 84 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:56.959 Yes, that's what I figured. And now you are Would 85 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:58.519 you call yourself a chemist? 86 00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:03.560 Yeah, I'm chemistry by trading. I have a PhD in chemistry. 87 00:05:03.959 --> 00:05:06.120 And now where did you Where did you study? Can 88 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:07.800 you give me a little bit of your scholastic background, 89 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:09.399 like what did you study where? 90 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.000 So I began. I did my graduate work down at 91 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.800 the University of California at San Diego. My work down 92 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:20.639 there was about kind of a mix of physical and 93 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:24.560 inorganic chemistry, which actually has some overlap with some of 94 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:26.759 the work I'm doing right now in some very indirect ways, 95 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:31.079 but I think that are irrelevant. And after getting my PhD, 96 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:33.959 I moved to back to the Bay Area and native 97 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.079 California was born and born in Oakland and did a 98 00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:44.600 postdoc at UC Berkeley slash Lawrence Berkeley Labs on alternative 99 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:45.560 energy work there. 100 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:49.279 So, Evan Bay Area born got his bachelor's and his 101 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:52.519 PhD in chemistry from UC San Diego, and then headed 102 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:55.759 back up to Berkeley for his post doc studying the 103 00:05:55.879 --> 00:06:00.639 sunlight gathering and oxidation of plants. Now there are probably 104 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:03.759 a lot of people in Berkeley right now whispering into 105 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:05.759 a houseplant. 106 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:07.480 You're eating, right? What up? 107 00:06:07.959 --> 00:06:08.800 How do you know it? 108 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:10.519 But Evan was doing it in a lab. 109 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:14.600 My work at Berkeley was trying to make synthetic analogs 110 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:20.519 of the chemical and something called photosystem too. This this 111 00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:23.319 this part of the leaf that can that does some 112 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:27.480 of the chemistry dirty work of the energy gathered by sun. 113 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:31.959 So what I was attempting to do as a postdoc, 114 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.800 what I was making some progress on, was how to 115 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:39.279 make these more natural kind of alternatives to what's used 116 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:41.480 in industry to electrolyize water. 117 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:45.800 Well, electrolysis can mean two things. One is running direct 118 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.519 electrical current through a liquid or a solution that has 119 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.839 ions in it. What are ions? Ions are just names 120 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:56.680 for atoms or molecules. Molecules made up of atoms, not 121 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:01.079 a big deal, that have some electrical charge. So electrons 122 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:04.040 have a negative charge, protons have a positive one. So 123 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:06.519 when this number is ant equal, you have a charged 124 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:10.319 ion and a cat ion is positively charged. If you 125 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:13.160 have a positive reaction to cats. This is easy to remember. 126 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:17.639 And an anion is negatively charged, think an antagonist. So 127 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:21.120 when you take two electrodes and run a current through 128 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:24.079 the solution, the negative ions will be attracted to the 129 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:28.759 cathode with the opposite charge. What else can electrolysis mean? 130 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:32.319 How does it relate to mustache hairs? Well, it can 131 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:36.519 mean running a tiny electrical current via a needle in 132 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:39.160 a hair shaft to kill the root of the hair cell. 133 00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:41.240 Do I have a couple that could benefit from this? 134 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:44.560 Probably that's none of your business. Does anyone want an 135 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:47.120 electrologist on the show, because I kind of do. Ps. 136 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.600 If you're in Seattle and you're looking for an electrologist, 137 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:52.199 you can look up a place called zipsapp. The owner's 138 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:54.800 named Jake and is an ologite. So perhaps next time 139 00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:57.399 I'm up in Seattle, electrologist Jake will let me ask 140 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:01.199 them questions. This mention will probably surprise them. Hi, Anyway, 141 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:01.800 where were we? 142 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:05.639 Chemistry water is something that is looked at as a 143 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:10.360 potential energy storage system to generate hydrogen, and I was used. 144 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:15.160 I was generating making these catalysts that would help make that. 145 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:17.920 The idea was to make that that that process a 146 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:21.040 little bit more economically feasible and industrially. That work has 147 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:24.800 done with things like platinum and other really precious metals. 148 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:28.199 And you know, if you want to make ground headway 149 00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:31.720 and you know and and and alternate energy, you need 150 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:33.320 to be able to get scale as opposed to just 151 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.759 getting you know, laboratory bench stuff, and that you need 152 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:37.879 to move some cost out of it. So we turned 153 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.039 to nature and try to get some you know, I'll 154 00:08:40.039 --> 00:08:41.919 see how nature does it and try to mimic that 155 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:44.639 synthetically and work from there. 156 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:47.519 What does all this science have to do with your 157 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:49.799 sexy crisp dovey cover. 158 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:52.879 As it turns out, that's actually kind of my connection 159 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:54.840 to to clorox. It seems like kind of a round 160 00:08:54.840 --> 00:08:56.919 about it. How do you go from doing like alternate 161 00:08:57.080 --> 00:09:01.519 energy resource to to to working on bleach. It's a 162 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:04.639 little bit kind of indirectly connected to how bleach is made. 163 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:09.679 The work I was doing as a postdoc is actually 164 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:12.120 what you don't want to do when you're when you're 165 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:15.279 making bleach. You want to prevent the reaction of oxidizing 166 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:18.559 water so that you can productively oxidize the salt. That's 167 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:21.240 in the water to make bleach. And so you know, 168 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:23.639 it's like understanding something upside down is just as good 169 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:26.320 as understanding upside up. And so that I got recruited 170 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:29.919 off of the UC Berkeley campus and I've been at 171 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:34.200 Clorox ever since that moment eleven years ago, working on bleach. 172 00:09:34.679 --> 00:09:38.639 That salt is NaCl sodium chloride, which is table salt. 173 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:41.399 Wait a second, lazy, do you know that I just 174 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:46.399 realized right now that Clorox comes from chloride? Like, right now? 175 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.000 How did I never know that before? 176 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:51.200 Yeah? 177 00:09:52.519 --> 00:09:54.440 I think I told you this before in a post 178 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:58.000 credit secret. But I also thought U Haul was a 179 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.840 Hawaiian company called Yahula before I realized it just met 180 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:05.480 you Haul. Also a lot of people think unicorns are 181 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:10.320 real extinct creatures and narwhals are fantasy whales. So let's 182 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:12.399 all just be gentle with each other, okay. And so 183 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.399 how is bleach made? How is hydrolysis involved? And what 184 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:17.279 is hydraulogics? 185 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:21.600 Yeah, so how it works is it starts with really 186 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:28.559 just two ingredients, that is sodium chloride and electricity. And 187 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:33.799 what happens is in passing electricity through a water solution 188 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:40.000 of sodium chloride you oxidize the chloride to chlorine, and 189 00:10:40.039 --> 00:10:43.759 that's one of the first ingredients that's made. Secondly, that 190 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:48.679 chlorine is reacted directly with sodium hydroxide LYE and the 191 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:54.120 two come together to make sodium hyperchloride. So it starts 192 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:58.799 from salt water electricity to make chlorine. That chlorine reacts 193 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:01.960 with that caustic live the same thing that's used to 194 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:05.240 make soaps and other things, and like you know, soap 195 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:09.279 boiling methods, and that combines to make the NAO c 196 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:11.960 L the sodium, the sodium hypochlorite. Ooh. 197 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:14.399 Buckle up for a debunk because Evan has a myth 198 00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:14.840 to bust. 199 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:18.840 There is no chlorine in chlorine bleach. That's kind of 200 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:21.879 a misnomer and really one of those terminology things. It's 201 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:25.200 all sodium hyperchlorate that's in there. Although chlorine is used 202 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:30.399 in its production as part of electrolyzing the salt water, 203 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:31.840 there is no chlorine in it. 204 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:36.080 I had no idea. Now, is there chlorine in chlorine pools? Yeah? 205 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:36.759 Is it same thing? 206 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:39.159 You know, it's it's one of those things because chlorine 207 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:40.600 is one of those things. It brings in a bunch 208 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:43.399 of bad stuff. The analogy I like to use is like, 209 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:45.799 you know, water, most people think of you know, no 210 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:49.159 waters H two O right, and then there's oxygen gas 211 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:53.000 O two. You know, water has oxygen in it, but 212 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:55.519 oxygen is a totally different thing that we breathe. You know, 213 00:11:55.559 --> 00:11:57.360 if you breathe water, you're in trouble. If you breathe 214 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:59.120 too much oxygen, you get in trouble as well too. 215 00:11:59.159 --> 00:12:01.360 But it's in a cird for life. But it's how 216 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:04.600 those things connect together that really make the chemical special. So, 217 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:08.440 like and chlorox, bleach has got sodium a chloride, So 218 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:12.039 the chlorine is attached to oxygens in a similar way 219 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:15.159 that like hydrogen is a text attached to oxygen and water, 220 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:16.200 it changes everything. 221 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:21.240 So to recap, electrolysis turns saltwater H two O plus 222 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:28.200 NaCl that becomes sodium hypochloride NaClO household bleach. There you go. Now, 223 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:32.240 as long as we're talking basics, let's talk basics. So 224 00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:37.000 the pH scale ranges from zero to fourteen, with acids 225 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.720 on the low end and bases on the high end. 226 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:43.039 So bleach is around twelve point six, Your blood is 227 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:46.600 about seven point six. What's lemon juice? Around two point 228 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:50.360 two battery acid. Oh nelly, that's a point three. So 229 00:12:50.440 --> 00:12:55.000 anyone identifying as a smelly person has heard probably the 230 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:58.200 age old adds for an anti perseprint that is pH 231 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:02.799 balanced for their swamp armpits, and been like, sure, whatever 232 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:05.279 do you d rate? But how about this alkaline water 233 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:08.559 trend that claims to fix cancer and even more importantly, 234 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:11.480 make your zips disappear. Well, I looked into it, and 235 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.440 most people in lab coats, I would wager ninety nine 236 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:17.679 point nine percent have debunked this, pointing out that your 237 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:21.559 stomach is a slimy pillowcase containing an acid bath. So 238 00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:24.559 any alkaline water you drink from the shelves a is 239 00:13:24.679 --> 00:13:28.240 usually mislabeled and is much less alkaline than promised, and 240 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:36.440 b it gets mixed pretty quick by your simmering gastric contents. Anyway, water, salt, electrolysis, bleach. 241 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:40.279 Did you always love chemistry? Were you the type of 242 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:42.120 person that was setting things up? 243 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:47.039 Fine? Yeah? You me? You cot me, I think, yeah, 244 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:55.440 it's the little strapping firecrackers to g I Joe's, and 245 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:57.799 you know, seeing what the Magni fire glass will dude 246 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:02.960 in the sunlight too, to plastics and things like that. Yeah, 247 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:06.679 that really an essay. 248 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:09.320 At what point were you like, how could I turn 249 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:12.120 this into a PhD and a job with a lab code. 250 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:14.519 Did you kind of always know like a chemist was 251 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:15.840 going to be your Yeah. 252 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:17.799 I kind of I kind of already. I kind of 253 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:20.960 always known that. It's it's just been my passion. I 254 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:24.559 could probably trace it back to some high school teachers. 255 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.799 I think I remember very very distinctly, like you know, 256 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.639 having a class discussion. I think it might have been 257 00:14:32.679 --> 00:14:34.519 physics or chemistry. I'm not sure what they kind of 258 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:39.159 blown together, but I remember being really really fascinated with 259 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:41.360 why water is clear? Why can you look through it? 260 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:42.960 Why can't you look through your desk the way the 261 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:45.240 same way you can look through water? And it was 262 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:47.840 just completely blown away with the fact that with the 263 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.440 feedback I got from the teacher says, I mean you 264 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:52.840 can predict that. I was like, what, how can you 265 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:55.840 predict that? That just seems so mysterious to me. It's 266 00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:59.279 like science to me is is like it's almost like 267 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:01.879 it's almost like a you know, it's you know how 268 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:04.360 things work. You can kind of put things together and 269 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:05.759 create some really awesome things. 270 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:09.559 Let's back up a sick We have a smart people, 271 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:12.279 and I have a stupid question. Why is water clear? 272 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:13.440 Is that easy to explain? 273 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:15.440 Yeah, it's it's actually, you know, those are of those 274 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:20.679 questions that is it's always those real fundamental questions are 275 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:24.399 are are are the best ones because they really get 276 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:26.879 at the root of things. Like I've got my two daughters, 277 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:29.360 you know, they're they're asking like why is the sky blue? 278 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:32.799 You know, those things are like really tough questions that 279 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:35.960 took a lot of really science to kind of get 280 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:38.960 the root of it. Water is clear because it absorbs 281 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:41.320 light and part of the spectrum your eyeballs can't see. 282 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:44.639 Just like that your desk absorbs light and part of 283 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:47.360 the spectrum your eyeballs can't see. But it's like, you know, 284 00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:48.799 like to me in high school, that was just like 285 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:51.200 blew me away, and like I'm hooked. I want size. 286 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:55.480 Yeah, well, why is the ding dang ocean blue? You 287 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:57.399 want to know? Well, I look this up for us. 288 00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:01.000 And because light can only penetrate so far through water, 289 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:04.679 what gets kicked back are the blue wavelengths, so the 290 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:08.120 reds get absorbed by the water. And I also, as 291 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:10.519 long as I was noodling around on the Internet looked 292 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:12.720 up what does the devil in the deep blue sea mean? 293 00:16:13.159 --> 00:16:15.440 And it's an idiom that means to be in a 294 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:18.879 real pickle. And the phrase was once between the devil 295 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.960 and the not longer wavelengths such as red and orange sea. 296 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:25.120 But that just didn't stick. That is not true information. 297 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:28.000 I just gave you. It was very stupid. Okay. Anyway, 298 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:32.399 when it comes to bleach, which you can also see through, correct, 299 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.919 how is it made? Because I didn't know until obviously 300 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:38.559 very recently when I came to tour the lab that 301 00:16:38.600 --> 00:16:43.840 it was like this is it? Like it was electrically made? 302 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:47.399 I had no idea. So, and how was this discovered? 303 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:48.399 Like where does this come from? 304 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:52.720 So it actually came. It was discovered quice some time ago. 305 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:59.320 It's a rather old old chemistry and it started even 306 00:16:59.559 --> 00:17:03.080 back the late seventeen hundreds. It was discovered by an 307 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:07.480 individual I'm just going to butcher his name, but I'll 308 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:11.759 try it anyway, a French gentleman in Paris. It was 309 00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:15.799 severed by individual NC Claude Lewis Bertholet and the last 310 00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:20.000 time was b r thho l L E t Bertule. 311 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:28.000 He had isolated the compound and initially actually repositioned it 312 00:17:28.119 --> 00:17:33.960 to work in textile bleaching. Immediately when this oxidated properties, 313 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:38.319 it's bleaching properties were mainly recognized as as something that 314 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:42.759 could be used in treating textiles. And this is all 315 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:46.279 the way back in the late seventeen hundred seventeen eighty five. 316 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:50.440 Of course, I needed for myself a visual image of 317 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:53.799 this frenchman, and in every old timey engraving of him, 318 00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:58.559 he looks kind of like Benjamin Franklin's less attractive half brother, 319 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:03.079 but his eyes are always shifted out of frame, looking away, 320 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:05.799 as though he just caught two people gossiping about him 321 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:08.880 between bites of a fruit goalette. Anyway, he was a 322 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:12.680 respected French scientist who left us with a legacy of 323 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.799 much better laundry practices. Now, if you listen to the 324 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:19.000 Roman Archaeology episode, you will remember in what is now Italy, 325 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:22.640 people used to pay professionals to dip their togas in 326 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:28.680 urine for cleaning, so merci. Anyway, by the late eighteen hundreds, scientists, 327 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:32.000 including a German guy named Robert Cock, who realized that 328 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:36.279 bleach killed bacteria. Scientists all agreed that it was germs 329 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:41.559 actually and not airborne ghosts that caused pandemic disease outbreaks, 330 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:45.279 and thus municipal water disinfection began. So I found one 331 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:49.359 quote from Keith Christman, who was the director of Disinfection 332 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:53.279 and Government Relations in the Chlorine Chemistry Council. I bet 333 00:18:53.319 --> 00:18:56.960 he doesn't even know he's a disinfecteologist, but he has 334 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.359 said that the filtration and disinfection of drinking waters been 335 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:04.480 responsible for a large part of the fifty percent increase 336 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:08.279 in life expectancy of the last century. So if you're 337 00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:12.799 bummed out about having to save for retirement, just blame 338 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:16.559 it all on water disinfection for keeping us alive. That's 339 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:20.599 very grim. Honestly, thank you water disinfection systems, because I 340 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:22.720 just want you to know I got sidetracked reading about 341 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:26.799 an eighteen fifty four London cholera outbreak and exactly where 342 00:19:26.839 --> 00:19:29.400 all of those cholera ghosties came from and what they 343 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:32.440 do to your boudet, and I need not share it 344 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:33.759 with you, but I will tell you that I was 345 00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:37.839 eating while also researching, and I continued because I love you. 346 00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:39.720 Now Where else has bleach. 347 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:42.799 Been one of my favorite to little tidbits with respect 348 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:45.400 to how like it's long history and kind of what 349 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.880 the funny places it ends up is. It was used 350 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:52.680 by the Apollo the Apollo missions to disinfect the spaceship 351 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:55.440 cabin after the astronaut's return from space, and I believe 352 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:57.799 it was also used as part of its water system 353 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:01.880 inside the spacecraft to ensure that the asturants had not 354 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:04.079 contaminated water on board. 355 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:06.880 Oh my gosh. So it's been to space. From the 356 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:07.759 steward to space. 357 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:09.519 It's pretty good journey space. 358 00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:12.039 It's like started from the bottom, now are here? 359 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:15.000 Yeah, started front of the bottom, now, you know, all the 360 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:18.400 way from like from some lab and in Paris, all 361 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:19.160 the way to space. 362 00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:23.759 So Clorox started in Oakland nineteen thirteen by a Scottish 363 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.880 American couple and Annie Murray had the idea to give 364 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:29.680 out diluted samples at the grocery store she worked in. 365 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:32.319 People in nuts Warm. They're still based in Oakland, And 366 00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:34.920 when I was growing up in the Bay Area, the 367 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:38.799 company sponsored the cheap seats in the coliseum and it's 368 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:43.200 still perhaps my favorite corporate pun. Ever, this section in 369 00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:46.279 the A's games were called the Clorox Bleachers. 370 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:48.359 So good. 371 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:51.359 So it gradually made its way into space and then 372 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:52.359 under your sink. 373 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:55.680 It was around the seventies and the eighties, nineteen seventies, 374 00:20:55.799 --> 00:21:00.599 nineteen eighties that it started becoming available as a ready 375 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:04.400 to use cleaning product. And you know, it's been used 376 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:09.279 in laundry, it's used widely as one of the most 377 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:14.559 versatile and powerful disinfectants. It's a great cleaner and shows 378 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:16.920 up in a lot of really surprising places. I think 379 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:22.079 one of the biggest misconceptions around bleach is is just 380 00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:24.839 a variety of places that it's used that are important 381 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:28.799 to really our health, collective health in ways that many 382 00:21:28.839 --> 00:21:31.200 of us aren't even aware of. If it's doing really 383 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:34.359 awesome stuff to help us. And I mean, like, do 384 00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:36.279 you have an example, like you brought it up earlier. 385 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:38.119 It's in our swimming pools. We bathe in the stuff 386 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:39.759 when we go in, and that's you know, that was 387 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:45.200 really critical to preventing you know, the spread disease in pools. 388 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:49.880 But most famously, you've the you know, polio and bleach 389 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:51.680 will take care of that quite quite easily. 390 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:55.559 Okay, quick aside, when did we start chlorinating pools? Well, 391 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:58.680 in old timy days, you just go to the creek 392 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:01.720 with Mam and Paul swan dive into a cold soup 393 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:05.400 of algae and a live turtles. But around nineteen hundreds 394 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:09.319 people wanted fancier things with fewer sunken logs in them. 395 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:12.279 Now the Colgate White Pool, built in the name of 396 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:15.960 a very wealthy donor of Brown University in nineteen oh three, 397 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:20.160 had browned some so funky, and in nineteen eleven they 398 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:23.279 got the idea to try chlorinating it because that had 399 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:27.240 been so effective at stopping disease outbreaks in municipal water. Now, 400 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:31.400 bacteria accounts went from seven hundred parts per million to 401 00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:35.400