welcome to chemistry 101 I’m dr. Rogers
and today we’re going to come up with a
solution to a problem I’m currently
having I don’t know if you guys have
ever cooked with jalapeno peppers before
but today I have to go home and prepare
my five-alarm chili for a group of
friends that are coming over and it
requires a 12 jalapeno peppers now if
you’ve ever sliced them you know that
you tend to get this burning sensation
on the tip of your fingers it is a pain
above and beyond anybody ever once
endure and the first time this happened
I didn’t even know it was because of the
peppers that this had happened I thought
maybe it was something that I touched I
didn’t wash my hands properly so my
basic instinct was to go wash my hands
now unfortunately that didn’t do a thing
now as that water started to heat up I
noticed it was melting away some of the
solid that was in a pan like this grease
that was in there so I thought okay let
me try that stick my fingers under there
and see what happens well apparently if
your fingers are burning from jalapeno
peppers don’t put them under hot water
all it does is intensify to the point
where it’s almost unbearable I have two
boys an 8 & 9 year old they both heard
me screaming so my 9 year old boy is
like hey how about using gloves sounds
like a great idea for somebody who
doesn’t cook now I don’t know if you
guys have ever cooked with gloves but I
value all 10 of my fingers and chopping
up something that’s wet and slippery was
not an option now I’m hoping that
together today we can come up with a
solution to this because I still have to
prepare these Pub this chili later on
this afternoon now with that in mind
there has to be a way but also I’m a
chemist and being a chemist by trait
there’s got to be some kind of knowledge
that I have that I can apply to this now
first we have to ask ourselves what is
it in jalapenos that makes it spicy well
the active ingredient in there is
capsaicin and believe it or not
capsaicin is the key ingredient found in
riot gear in pepper spray
well no wonder it burns like there’s no
tomorrow and imagine what would it
happen if i touch my eye now the other
thing that it said was that capsaicin is
a hydrophobic chemical sounds like a big
fancy word but if you break it apart
hydro like to hydrate something means
that it’s water it’s associated with
water phobic or having a phobia means
it’s afraid so capsaicin is none other
than afraid of water it wants nothing to
do with water now think of I think of it
as like a kid who’s afraid of the
boogeyman
that’s my capsaicin that’s afraid of
water
I’ll nozzle up in bed right you got snow
it has nowhere to go but what happens
when the boogeyman comes curl up into
the fetal position go as far away as you
can from the boogeyman well that’s
capsaicin hiding from the water
it wants nothing to do with it now if
it’s afraid of water capsaicin is afraid
of water it wants nothing to do with it
it doesn’t bond therefore it’s not going
to work I can’t wash my hands that’s why
that didn’t work Nishal ewwww now there
is this chemists rule of thumb it states
that likes dissolve likes anything with
similar chemical and physical properties
dissolves or mixes cohesively with
something with similar chemical and
physical properties think of oil and
water those two don’t mix in this case
you have capsaicin which is an oil it
doesn’t mix with water it doesn’t want
anything to do with it but if I took two
types of oils and mix them together no
problem now the best example of this is
actually hot wings when you guys order
hot wings what comes with it usually you
get a side of blue cheese dressing and
that’s because blue cheese dressing is
one of the fattiest dressings that there
are that’s a good thing because these
fats are actually oils and your hot
wings contain capsaicin
and if you mix the two together you’re
diluting or reducing the concentration
or the intensity of that spiciness so
here we’ve taken real life applications
we’ve talked about chemistry in a way
that you’ve never would have thought
that this was chemistry we’ve learned
quite a few things
in a couple of minutes so we’ve learned
that the key ingredient in jalapeno
peppers is capsaicin we learned it’s
also found in riot gear pepper spray we
learned that hydrophobic is afraid of
water we learned that the chemists rule
of thumb states that likes dissolve
likes we also learned that to dilute
something means you’re reducing the
concentration or making it less intense
in this concept now consequently
teaching the latest generation of
chemistry students has become a
difficult factor because the old-school
methodology methodology of using a
whiteboard or chalkboard is no longer as
attractive as it used to be so I have to
come up with a new way to entice them
the ijen now generation they want
answers within an instant they can’t
wait for answers and with technology
advancing as much as it is answers are
available with a swipe of the finger but
truly understanding the concepts
applying the critical thinking skills
and knowing when to apply those concepts
that’s a problem that we’re having
nowadays especially with the class such
as chemistry which has a negative stigma
associated with it by citing chemistry I
don’t care about it when am I ever going
to use it again
well we just showed you a couple of
examples of real-life applications and
another press another practical
real-life at the clay application is a
permanent marker stain imagine you’ve
got a nice blouse on and there’s a
permanent marker staying on there how do
you get rid of it especially using what
we just talked about so you have to find
out what that ink in the permanent
marker is dissolved in and it’s actually
alcohol so if you’ve got a stain all you
need to do is find something else some
kind of alcohol that you have in your
house now make sure it’s not anything
that does more damage than good so red
wine out but you can use rubbing alcohol
or isopropyl alcohol found in your
medicine cabinet you can use vodka again
make sure it’s clear because I know that
I have these fancy ones nowadays or you
can even use hairspray spray it on put
it in the wash
done again real-life chemistry real-life
applications we’re going above and
beyond what the traditional teachings
are now let’s take this one step further
and make it even more impactful college
students nowadays are interested in
science-based careers and usually it’s
in the medical field
so if I can put together a nice lecture
that encompasses their future goals I’ve
got their attention they’re going to
listen so with that in mind and because
I’m fortunate enough to teach at a small
private college I can design my
chemistry class in a very different
manner I don’t use the traditional lab
manuals that come with the class in the
book that you get I actually take what
they’re interested at that moment in
time and I mesh it with their future
goals this way
they can have positive encouragement
without within one another they know
what it is that they want to do later on
they want to see how they’re going to
actually apply these things in real life
I’m capturing their interest they’re
gaining focus they’re having discussions
with friends and family about things
that they never thought they would have
had discussions about this is chemistry
they’re talking about when was the last
time you got a phone call from somebody
saying hey guess what I learned in chem
class and they’re in college so these
are real-life examples it is up to us as
future educators to change with the
times things are evolving times are
evolving and changing and therefore we
as educators need to evolve now I also
teach as I mentioned teach chemistry I
have four research projects going on
this semester two of those are actually
doing a preventative or finding a
preventative for Alzheimer’s disease one
of them took into consideration what we
just talked about a couple minutes ago
with regards to hydrophobicity and they
had found that an excellent preventative
for Alzheimer’s disease is in fact
cinnamon which is a hydrophobic chemical
so again real life applications this is
a new way of teaching chemistry thank
you you