Welcome to Chemistry Connections, my name is Amelie Bass and I am your host for episode #18 called Cupcake Chemistry. Today I will be discussing how the ingredients of a cupcake form the magical dessert we all know and love.

Cupcakes: the delicious dessert baked for a celebration or eaten as a late-night snack. But like what goes into the cupcake to give it a moist and fluffy cake?

I love baking a variety of treats but cupcakes are always a classic.

Ok, let’s start with the key ingredients of any good cupcake:

• Flour
• Butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Vanilla
• Leaveners, like baking powder and baking soda
• Dairy, like sour cream and milk
• And of course a good frosting and decorations

In this episode we will be discussing the chemistry behind 2 of these ingredients, starting with….

Leaveners (like the thing that gives the cupcake a light fluffy texture) are probably the most important ingredient in a cupcake. It is used to help the cupcake rise, giving it a light and fluffy texture.

So what is a leavener, like what is the ingredient that is doing the rising. Baking soda and baking powder are what recipes will commonly call for.

Now some will call for both of these leaveners. But wait, why is that, why do I need 2? Hold onto that idea later and we will come back to it later. Let's first analyze what these two substances even are.

Baking soda

• Sodium bicarbonate is a base, used to neutralize any acidic components (chocolate or citrus) in the batter
• When the cupcakes are baked, the baking soda or NaHCO3 in the batter turns into sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide
• The carbon dioxide which is released in bubbles, causing the batter to rise.

Baking powder

• A dry mixture that contains baking soda, acid salts, and cornstarch
• The baking soda reacts with the acid salts in the powder only when the mixture is moistened
• The...

Welcome to Chemistry Connections, my name is Adithya Shrikanth and I am your host for episode 1 called Today I/we will be discussing the chemistry of Gasoline.

Gasoline how it works are what are the differences between regular and premium and the difference between the gasoline in car and jets

The chemical composition of gasoline is C8H18 and it appears as a yellowish liquid. The problem is that gasoline is a liquid and for an engine of any vehicle to work it needs fuel. The wondrous thing about gasoline is that is vaporizes at low temperatures so the engine does not have to heat up much for the gasoline to turn into fuel. Gasoline is a petroleum-based compound so when the engine is running, the gasoline reacts with the air and a combustion reaction occurs turing the gasoline into a gas. To understand gasoline further we must know how the gasoline reacts with the engine. Despite the type of engines used, all of them use pistons. When the gasoline combusts, the explosion pushes the piston down which transfers energy to the crankshaft and so one eventually leading to a running car. How we know how gasoline works but what about the differences between gasoline. At the gas station we see two options, premium and regular and normally we use regular gasoline due to its price but why do these options exist. Well the main difference between regular and premium is the ocatnce level. Premium gasoline has a higher octane level. The level of octane in gasoline indicated the likelihood of improper engine combustion which is known as engine knock. The higher octane concentration in premium gasoline causes a lower likelihood of engine knock happening, this is why high premium gasoline is used in high-performance cars. Jets and cars both use fuel but what is the difference between them. Both aviation fuel and regular fuel use hydrocarbons but the difference is the type of hydrocarbons each fule uses. The hydocarbns that make up normal gasoline contain 7 to 11 carbon atoms attached to hydrogen atoms, the ones that make up Avatioan fuel contain 12-15 carbon atoms so jet fuel is made up of mostly kerosene. In theory jet fuel can be used in cars but car fuel cannot make a jet run because the conditions that a jet goes through are very different as compared to a car. At the hights that a jet travels, the temprature becomes -40 Celcius so normal gasoline would freeze at those temperatures so the combustion reactions would stop. Since jet fuel is mostly kerosene it has a low freezing point so that is why jet fuel and gasoline are different.

We all drive cars and have been in cars as long as we can remember. One of the converstones of driving a car is gasoline. We pull up to the gas station and see options for gasoline and we wonder what they all mean. We also wonder how a liquid can help a car or plane run.

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Welcome to Chemistry Connections, my name is dongxuan and I am your host for episode #16 called . chemistry in steroids Today I/we will be discussing the structure and some basic information about the steriods

The first therapeutic use of steroids occurred in the 18th century when English physician William Withering used digitalis, a compound extracted from the leaves of the common foxglove, to treat edema.

steroid: any of a class of natural or synthetic organic compounds characterized by a molecular structure of 17 carbon atoms arranged in four rings.

Today I’m gonna talk about 6 types of steroids. I’m gonna talking about their structure and their functions.

Cortisol plays an important role in the stress response. Maintaining an adequate balance of cortisol is essential for health.

In many species, including amphibians, reptiles, rodents and birds, corticosterone is a main glucocorticoid involved in regulation of energy, immune reactions, and stress responses.

Aldosterone A steroid hormone made by the adrenal cortex (the outer layer of the adrenal gland). It helps control the balance of water and salts in the kidney by keeping sodium in and releasing potassium from the body.

Progesterone is an endogenous steroid hormone that is commonly produced by the adrenal cortex as well as the gonads, which consist of the ovaries and the testes. Progesterone is also secreted by the ovarian corpus luteum during the first ten weeks of pregnancy, followed by the placenta in the later phase of pregnancy.

Oestradiol is a steroid hormone with a molecular weight of 272. It is secreted mainly by the ovary, but small amounts are produced by the adrenals and testis, so that in males and in post menopausal females' Oestradiol is always present at low concentrations.

Testosterone is the primary male hormone responsible for regulating sex differentiation, producing male sex characteristics, spermatogenesis, and fertility.

Personal connection:

Several weeks ago, I’m just doing a regular blood test, and the doctor said my platelets are low, and it’s getting lower. I have to go to the doctor. After the examination, the doctor told me that my immune system recognizes that my platelets are harmful and is destroying my platelets. So the doctor gave me decadron, that’s corticosterone. that’s a medicine that will suppress the immune system so it won’t destroy more platelets. SInce the decadron has many side effects. It cause me headaches, muscle pain, and stomach pain. So I decided to do some research about steroids. Because it really cause a lot of trouble to me. That’s the main reason that I choose this topic. That’s my connection with the steroids.

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