Coconut for the Family
Lex Education is the comedy science podcast where comedian Laura Lex learns about eggs
Laura: Hello and welcome to another episode of Lex Education. It's the comedy science podcast where comedian me, Laura Lex, tries to learn science from her, uh, post Egg a thon. Brother Ron.
Ron: Legs eggs you.
Laura: If you're not a patron, you're missing out. We have just recorded the third annual Egg a Thon, one of the most mysterious events in podcasting. And all you have to do to view two adults eating too many eggs is to sign up for just £3amonth.
Ron: How many eggs do you think we just ate? I mean, I ate four boiled, so.
Laura: I had two boiled. I didn't have many. I'm good at riddles.
Ron: Yeah, I'm bad at riddles.
Laura: Uh, we did riddles this year. You. We riddle de read each other.
Ron: I did zany riddles.
Laura: Ron did some zany riddles, I did some tricky riddles. And if you got the, if you couldn't get the riddle, you had to eat an egg. Uh, that will be coming out in about two weeks, I think, just before Easter. Um, so join the Patreon guys. It's super cheap and, uh, we love you. Um, I'm so full of eggs. How's your head?
Ron: It's okay. The swelling's gone down.
Laura: It got brutal mid Egg a Thon.
Ron: Laura threw a hard boiled egg at my head.
Laura: Don't give away spoilers, Ron.
Ron: No, you have to give away the spoilers because otherwise people, people aren't gonna sign up and just be like, yeah, wash these peep people. He's mad. Can't see some egg. You have to hear something happened.
Laura: Yeah, there's a fight. Um. Oh, Ron. And in this episode we're talking about shells.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Synergy. Maybe one time we should do a practical experiment where we peel the shells off an atom and it would make ions.
Ron: Yes. Oh.
Laura: Ah. Um, right, I've got some announcements up top. There's lots of stuff happening for me at the moment. If you're a fan of me and my work, my Edinburgh Fringe show, Stop eating egg. That's not what my show is called. My show is called Slinky. It's the one I did on tour last year. So if you're going to the Fringe or you know anybody that's going to the Fringe, tickets are now on sale. Um, I'm on at the Monkey Barrel. I'm at Cabaret Voltaire from the 11th to the 21st at 10 to 4 in the afternoon. That's a lovely time, isn't it? Um, I'm trying to work out, doing a work in progress as well on the free Fringe. Um, so if you are there between the 11th and 21st, there might be two chances to see me. Um, an announcement for Irish listeners. I'm doing a weekend of shows in Dublin in the autumn, the 20th to the 22nd of November. Um, I think I'm at the International and the Crack Den. So come and see that. We're sort of doing it as a little crack den.
Ron: That's good. That's good.
Laura: Yeah. Um, do you ever gig with, um. I've forgotten his name because all I can think about is eggs. But he's funny. He runs it.
Ron: Uh, do I ever gig with. No, probably not. Not being here.
Laura: You haven't done your gig yet. What's his name? I love him. I think he's really funny. I can't remember his name for the life, me. He's Australian. I know what he looks like.
Ronan Keating is planning a tour of New Zealand next year
He's got a kid. Anyway. He has one of my favourite bits about before he had a kid, he didn't understand why babies cried all the time. But then imagine you just fell asleep happy in your bed and you woke up strapped to a seat going 70 miles an hour on the motorway. Didn't know where you were going. I'd cry too. Great bit.
Ron: That's funny.
Laura: Um, so, yeah, we're kind of doing these. This little Irish run. I'm just on a mixed bill in November. But we're doing it as a tester because I'd like to put Dublin on my tour list. Uh, but we have been advised that it's incredibly hard to sell tickets in Ireland if you're non Irish act. Don't know if that's true, but that's what we've been told. So, um, I wanted to come over and see if there's any interest. So let me know. New Zealand is just around the corner if you have friends in Auckland or Wellington. I am there for. For, uh, the month. I'm doing three weeks in Auckland at, uh, the Classic and then I'm down to Wellington. I'm not sure where I'm on in Wellington. M. Yeah, it just wants to go to sleep a lot. I'm currently planning my spring tour for next year, 2026. My new show, do not Ron. I will flick. Do not spray me like a naughty cat. I will flick egg mayo at you. I'm planning my spring tour for next year with a view to being back in New Zealand in May if all goes well.
This one's sciencey, so let's let everybody listen to this Marvel
So I wanted to say, do we have listeners in Australia? Should I be trying to build a little Australia Week in, uh. And if so, where? Um, right. I think that that's all of my announcements about the world of Laura doing comedy. Ron, what's new with
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you? Um, let's save what's new with you until the outro, Ron. Let's let everybody listen to this Marvel.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: And didn't you say this is one of your favourite episodes we've done in a while?
Ron: No, I think that's the last one I edited.
Laura: Well, we'll see how this one is when you've edited it.
Ron: This one's sciencey.
Laura: Da dee da. Uh, recording. Why is it gonna be a bloodbath?
Ron: Well, it might be. It's either gonna be a bloodbath or something that you find really interesting, but.
Laura: Interesting.
Ron: This is gonna be one of those times that I think you've expressed frustration with previously, um, where I'm about to tell you that the way that you've understood things up until now.
Laura: Well, hang on a second.
Ron: I would like vastly more complicated than that.
Laura: I would like to object to the passive tone of it being the way I've understood things and to put it onto the way it's been explained by the curriculum.
Ron: Yes, the. The way that. The way that, um, the. The royal you understands things in GCSE is not the reality of how things are.
Laura: Then why the. Did we learn it?
Ron: Because this is more complicated. So here's the thing. Disclaimer. The last chemistry that we recorded, we really phoned in, and then we did jetpunk instead of the quiz. And I did say that we were going to re. Go over that stuff, but you know what? We're not, because I don't want to. And I think part of professional podcasting is just moving forwards. Let's not rehash old content mass spectrometry.
Laura: I thought we did really well on that.
Ron: No, the. The interpreting of the. The. The mass spectrums.
Laura: Yeah, I've got no notes on that, so I guess we didn't do it.
Ron: I think that was the record that we did from our separate beds with the microphone.
Laura: From our, uh, 1950s sitcom about two siblings living in a bedsit.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah. Okay.
Ron: And then we did Jet Punk for the quiz. And you did very well at naming all of the states.
Laura: Oh, yeah. Should we just quickly try that again?
Ron: No, because we've got stuff to get into.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron says he had a rest day yesterday because his dog looked haggard
And I've got to do a workout in 40 minutes.
Ron: 40 minutes? Uh, back at the gym yesterday.
Laura: Yeah, you didn't have much energy yesterday, you said.
Ron: No, but I still did five different exercises.
Laura: Pretty good, Ron.
Ron: Um, usually I Do four or five sets. But then, yes, I just did three of each.
Laura: I had a big old rest day yesterday. I didn't work out and I didn't walk the dog.
Ron: Yeah, it's needed.
Laura: Sometimes I felt like Mackie needed the rest more than me, to be honest. She just was. You know, when she. You said she looked haggard, and I.
Ron: Think I didn't remember saying that.
Laura: You did. You said she's looking more haggard than usual lately. And I thought maybe because of my desire to get out in this sunny weather, I've just been walking her a little too hard. So I gave her a day off yesterday.
Ron: Maybe I'm considering going for a run over lunch.
Laura: Pill, pill, pill, pill.
Ron: I'm fitter than I was when I did that run to Pill.
Laura: Okay, go to pill, Ron.
Ron: No, because that took me, like, three hours, and I bruised my feet and couldn't exercise for, like, two months after that.
Laura: Go halfway to pill, Ron.
Ron: You can't. That's how I ended up going to Pill. It's pill or bust.
Laura: I love that. There's a bit when you drive into Bristol that's like Ham, Green Penny, Brawn Industrial Estates. And it just makes me think of Toast of London every time. Like, this is how they name people. I'm, um, Ham. Pill. I'm Penny Brone. Pill.
Ron: Bristol has some amazing, um, names of places. My mate Jay lives in a place called Fish Ponds.
Laura: Yeah. That's wonderful. I remember doing a gig in Fish Ponds once for a comedian called Salmonello.
Ron: Drag act.
Laura: Nope. Uh, old Italian man.
Ron: Oh. Literally. Sal Manello.
Laura: Yeah. Never worked out if it was a pun, though. Um, like a stage name. Because why wouldn't you make it Manella?
Ron: I guess because he's a boy, maybe. Anywho, Laura, name the three part Huey, Dewey and Louie. I'm not gonna get these references. I've never seen
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Ron: the Duck Boys.
Laura: You knew it was the Duck Boys?
Ron: Yeah, obviously, I know it's the Duck Boys. They're very famous, but I don't know loads about them.
Laura: Well, that. That was it. You just said, name the three, and I went with the famous three.
Ron: Maybe we could pivot the conversation to Ed, Edd and Eddie. Yeah, um, Bubbles, Buttercup and Porthos, Athos. And what's the other one called? Blossom. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup.
Laura: What are they called? Porthos, Athos and D'Artagnan. Oh, my God.
Ron: Yeah, we've got different. We've got different frames of references for trios.
Laura: Yeah, SpongeBob and SquarePants.
Ron: SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy. Cheeks?
Laura: Who's Sandy Cheeks? I thought it was Squidward.
Ron: No, but Squidward's the heel.
Laura: Oh.
Ron: Sandy's the squirrel. The kung fu squirrel.
Laura: I never, ever watched that. I only watched that one episode where he wakes up and says, gary, we're finally huge.
Ron: Huge. Um, SpongeBob's great. It was, uh. The guy that invented it was, like, a marine biologist, and he just wanted a show about the sea.
Laura: What a king.
Ron: Yeah.
Name the three particles that make up atoms. Proton, electron, nucleus
Anyway, name the three particles that make up atoms.
Laura: Proton, electron, nucleus.
Ron: Awesome. And describe to me where these things.
Laura: Are found in an atom. Where in the atom, uh, electrons are in an outer shell and neutrons. And protons are in the nucleus.
Ron: Perfect. Laura, can you tell me anything about this shell that the electrons live in?
Laura: How do you spell neutron?
Ron: Uh, N. E. I've missed out the.
Laura: E. That's what I've done. Can I tell you anything about the shell?
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Well, it's not real, is it? They're just floating about in orbit. It's not actually a crispy coating.
Ron: Well, here's the thing, Laura, is that it's actually vastly complicated.
Laura: Of course it is.
Ron: It's actually really. It's actually a really, really weirdly specific and complicated thing how these electrons live around the atom. Um, the only tweak, um, from what we've talked about, uh, versus what you said, is that it's not just one shell. Um, it's multiple shells. That's where you get the. The rows in the periodic table because the electrons move out to another shell. Right?
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Um, so, yeah, yeah, your helium. No, that's actually bad. Yeah, your helium versus your, um, krypton. The krypton is a few shells out from helium, but in the same configuration. Uh, is the difference there. Uh, hang on. Where have my notes gone? There they are. So why do electrons do this? How are they configured? Um, this is. The arrangement of the electrons is what we would call the electron configuration. Okay. Um, they are arranged in what we'd either call principal energy levels or principal quantum shells.
Laura: Principal energy levels. Now, this is something that might, uh, cause you to want to buy a cereal bar for your leading lady or actor. Um, if you were doing a panto.
Ron: Each of these principal.
Laura: You have to go with some of the whimsy because you cut. You. You simply cannot understand how boring this has got so quickly. Seconds ago, we were riffing, buzzing, and now suddenly, we're just in dreary.
Ron: No, get into it. This is cool.
Laura: Drear, Penny Brown, pill.
Ron: Pretty cool, actually. Um, each of these principal quantum shells, Laura, has a Principal quantum number that we represent with just a small N.
Laura: Mackie's really angry downstairs.
So, principal quantum shells. These numbers are specific to what are called subshells
So, principal quantum shells.
Ron: What we just, um. Because they're shells, they're layers, like a babushka.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Um, so the one on the very inside has the principal quantum number one. So we call that n1. And then we've got n2, n3, n4 and so on.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Or rather n equals one.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Um, get up a periodic table. Okay.
Laura: I'm going to get my old notebook. It's behind me
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Laura: on my shelves of wisdom. Got it.
Ron: Wi. Looking. So, looking at, uh, your periodic table there, Laura, how many electrons do you think principal quantum shell one can hold?
Laura: 2.
Ron: Correct. What about number two?
Laura: 10. 8.
Ron: Correct. Yes. Now they go up in specific amounts. Um, can, um. You can see that. Yeah, it goes up by six and then it goes up by 10, and then, uh, it goes up by 12 when you get. Pardon? What?
Laura: Goes up by six two to eight. Oh, yeah.
Ron: And then when you get the lanthanides and actinides involved, it goes up by 12. Okay. These numbers are specific to what are called subshells.
Laura: Okay, Wait, so there's two in the first one, eight in the second one.
Ron: Yep.
Laura: Eight in the third one.
Ron: Not quite.
Laura: Why?
Ron: Well, I need to explain the next bit before we can talk about that.
Laura: Bloody hell, Harry.
Ron: Um, it actually. Yeah, it goes. It actually goes to 1832.
Laura: But from neon to argon, there's eight different.
Ron: Yes, but like I say, we need to discuss the next bit first.
Okay, so you have these subshells, that make up the principal quantum shells
Okay, so you have these subshells, okay, that make up the principal quantum shells.
Laura: Why are atoms from the 80s? Because they're wearing shell suits.
Ron: Very nice. Um, the subshells have different sizes that they can hold a different amount of electrons. Okay.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: So the first type of subshell that we've got is an S shell. Okay.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: N equals 1 shell. Shell shell. In n equals 1.
Laura: Like Chrishell from selling Sunset.
Ron: In any, it was always one. And Judith's favourite, in N equals one. You've just got an S subshell. Okay.
Laura: N equals one is an S subshell. Um. Yep, yep.
Ron: We'll call that one S. Okay. How many electrons does it hold?
Laura: Two.
Ron: Two indeed. Okay, that's it for principal quantum shell one.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Principal quantum shell two. First thing we do is we fill up another S shell.
Laura: Got. Yeah.
Ron: Then so that one's going to be called 2s.
Laura: Okay. Still holds 2.
Ron: Still holds 2. Now, uh, what atom do we get up to where it's satisfied by just Two S shells.
Laura: Beryllium.
Ron: Um, yes, indeed. Okay, the next one that we've got is a P shell.
Laura: So this is on N2.
Ron: N equals 2. Yeah. Then we've got the P shell. So it's 2P because it's in the second principal quantum shell. That one can hold six electrons. So that's where we get that next block from boron through neon.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: They are satisfied by the P shell. 2P then. Laura, do you want to hazard a guess as to what happens next?
Laura: Okay, so we're having n equals 3. We're going to have an S shell called 3S that holds 2.
Ron: Beautiful. That takes us to magnesium.
Laura: We're going to have a pea shell called 3P, what holds 6.
Ron: Perfect.
Laura: And then we're going to have a, ah, Z shell.
Ron: This is
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Ron: where it gets complicated again. Okay. Um, because all of this is a, um. All of these are different shapes and spaces, um, where the electrons are. And as we know, it takes different amounts of energy and stuff to hold electrons in places and ionise them and knock them out and stuff. And essentially because of that, there's just different, um, there's different probabilities that electrons end up in certain places first. So the next type of subshell is called a D subshell. And it holds 10 electrons. That's where we get scandium through to zinc. Right.
Laura: So that's 3D.
Ron: 3D. Yes.
Laura: And it's holding 10.
Ron: It's holding 10. Yep. And it is part of N equals 3. However, because of the energy requirement to fill up these subshells, um, actually the next two electrons, they go into 4s first.
Laura: What do you mean, the next two?
Ron: So, um, we filled up our 3p with six electrons.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Then the next two electrons that an atom would gain, those go into 4s before they go before any. Go into 3d. So we start filling up, um, n equals 4 before we fill up. N equals 3.
Laura: That's insane.
Ron: Yes.
So are there like, microscopes that allow you to actually see this? No, this is microscopes
Laura: So are there like, microscopes that allow you to actually see this?
Ron: No, this is, um. Yeah. Too small for that. Um, and the weird thing about all of these things so is these. We actually know the shape of all of these. Um, an S orbital. And this, uh, do write this down because this is testable material as well. An S orbital is a sphere. Okay. Around, um, around the, the nucleus.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: At, ah, a certain distance from the nucleus, obviously. Um, and as you have multiple S's, you have different layers where the, um, the electron is likely to be. Okay. All of these different things define spaces where we Know the electron is. But the electron can be anywhere within that space. They kind of fly around.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Okay, that's uh, that's an S orbital. A P orbital. Um, uh, because we know electrons exist in pairs, right?
Laura: Mhm. A P orbital and in many other fruits. Oh God, it's been so sciency. And there's a really loud pigeon. And um, Mackie's barking. And um, my shoulder hurts. I can't find my glue sticks.
Ron: So, um, a P orbital, kind of orbital of a dumbbell. Okay. So you get one electron on one side and one electron on the other side. And then it's skinny in the middle. It's not going to be in the middle. And then you have those in all three directions. X, Y and Z dimensions. So that, that gives us three pairs of two, our six electrons. See figure one.
Laura: Oh, don't worry, I've drawn it. What is your picture? What's that building you're in m front of on WhatsApp?
Ron: Uh, that was in Portugal. Oh, um, okay.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: So these are the only two that you have to know. You have to be able to rattle off that S is spherical and P are, uh, this dumbbell shape. And you, you, you might be asked to draw them like that. Okay.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: You don't have to know the shape of the D orbitals
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Ron: because with 10, they're vastly more complicated. So each one of those three that we've got there with the peas, those are all different orbitals.
Laura: Oh my God. Between the pigeon and science and Mackie, I'm gonna have a nosebleed. Let me get rid of the pigeon. That's the only one I can control. Bear with pigeon. You simply have to go away. You know, I'm a huge fan of you guys, but please, please, I'm trying. Ow. Doesn't sit right with me to disperse a pigeon. But okay, back now.
Talk me through that quickly. No, no, I don't want to. Don't offer me the opportunity to run you through
Ron: Uh, okay, so the zp, the XP and the yp, those are all orbitals.
Laura: The zp, the XP and the yp.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: What are you talking about? Where did ZX and Y come from?
Ron: The three different dimensions. Look at the drawing.
Laura: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ron: So those are the orbitals. That's the smallest unit of electron configuration that we're discussing. Okay.
Laura: Yep.
Ron: P or S in its entirety. So if you put the X, the y and the ZPs together, that then creates a subshell. That's the next step up. Okay?
Laura: Subshell. Woo.
Ron: Then S and P together for, uh, n equals 2, where we only have S and P. That equals a shell in itself. So if shells are made of subshells, which are in turn made of orbitals. Okay.
Laura: No, I think I just said yes to the subshell bit without listening.
Ron: Okay, well, we know that electrons live in shells. Yeah?
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Okay. Those shells are made up of subshells. Those subshells are named after these letters. S and P and F and D.
Laura: I thought they were the shells.
Ron: No.
Laura: What's the shell, then?
Ron: The shell is n equals 1, n equals 2, n equals 3. Going up like that.
Laura: Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ron: Then. Yeah. Then the S and the P, the D and the F. Those are the subshells.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Then within those sub. It goes up to F. F, F equals FF equates to the lanthanides and the actinides. That's where all of those elements suddenly spring out of.
Laura: Right.
Ron: Um, those subshells are made up of orbitals.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: With the S, it's simple. It's just a sphere around the atom. With, uh, with the P, you've got those three different dumbbells. Each one of those dumbbells in the different configuration in the different, uh, direction is a different orbital.
Laura: Yeah, okay, yeah.
Ron: Talk me through that quickly.
Laura: No, no, I don't want to.
Ron: Just run me through it. No, go on.
Laura: Don't offer me the opportunity to run you through. When I'm this angry, I shall grab my sword. I get it, Ron. I promise. I get it. Promise. I, uh, promise you this. I promise you, Ron. No one, um, understands subshells and shells and B, shells and D, shells and F shells and S, shells and n ones and n 4s and length and nights like me. No one's ever understood it like me. Not even Stephen Hawking, uh, understood it as well as me. Not even Rutherford or Niels Bohr or the guy that thought about pudding. Nobody understood it like me. Hey, that's a weird thought, isn't it? That actually, in terms of. I mean, I don't really understand it at all, Ron. Um, but I do understand it more than 99.9999% of people that have ever lived.
Ron: Yep.
Laura: That's wild.
Ron: Or at least on par with them. Yeah.
Laura: Yeah. I'm one of the smartest human beings that's ever existed, statistically.
Ron: Have you seen that new diagram that I've sent you?
Laura: Um, no.
This chemistry episode has got physics written all over it
I've
00:30:00
been playing with this horrible microfiber cloth that I don't like to use in winter. Microfiber is a summer material because in winter it just finds all the itty bitties on your skin.
Ron: Oh.
Laura: God, this is so dry. This has got physics written all over it.
Ron: This chemistry is just the study of electrons.
Laura: Oh, so boring. And, um, biology is just the study of carbon and physics is the study of wind. Invisible shit.
Ron: Physics is at a level is probably the most varied, but it's a lot of maths.
Laura: It's so much maths, Ron. And actually, in the last physics episode, there's a lot of chat in the discord about what a scoundrel you are.
Ron: What did I do in that one?
Laura: Um, I don't know. It took you a while to clarify about magnitude and bigger numbers or something when we were talking about minuses. I haven't delved in because I've been very busy. Um, but I just enjoyed everybody screaming that I'm brilliant.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Which I assume was what was happening. Okay, you've sent me another diagram. It's got, it's got a little green train on the side that's like a file work. And it's going up saying, increasing energy. Then we've got these shells, N1, N2, N3, N4. They're going up. Um, then it's got the subshells that everyone's got. And then it's got the electrons on the right. Is that right, Ron?
Ron: Yeah. The important part about that is you can see when we get up to n equals 3 and n equals 4 how they start overlapping.
Laura: Yeah. It just starts to plug. You're going to have a French braid of electrons, essentially.
Ron: Yeah. Because it's all about energy levels and it's easier to keep something in 4s than it is in 3d.
Laura: Sure. That is just logic, isn't it? Because 4s is just.
Ron: How long have we been recording?
Laura: Oh, since the discovery of electrons. Um, 27 minutes.
Ron: That's not quite long enough, is it?
Laura: Uh, if we could find an extra 8 to 10, it would. It'll make it a round hour of an episode.
Ron: Look, here's what I think it means to be professional podcasters.
Laura: We stop asking how long we've been recording.
Ron: No, because otherwise I'd have said, right, we're done. Whereas we do need a bit more content. But I see the cup runneth over with, um, with info. I think we should stop.
Laura: Alabama, Arkansas.
Ron: Ah, that's what I'm saying. Let's do it. Let's do a cheeky jet punk. Let's not force any more science into. Into that rock hard brain of yours. Um, because that's a good.
Laura: A cat flap.
Ron: A cat flap.
Laura: A cash flap.
Ron: Oh, uh, no, I counted that when I was up there the other day. Yeah, yeah.
Laura takes a 1780s decade quiz based on shell suits
All right, Laura, we're gonna do a 1780s decade quiz.
Laura: Jesus. Okay. Why the 1780s? Because of the shell suits. Did they wear shell suits in the 1780s?
Ron: It just came up on the front page of Jetpunk dot com.
Laura: Is Jet Punk the new sporkle?
Ron: Yeah, I prefer jet punk.
Laura: Oh, okay.
Ron: Uh, Laura. Invention by the Montgolfier brothers that allowed man to take flight for the first time.
Laura: Hot air balloon.
Ron: Hot air balloon. Correct. Modern day country where the First Fleet landed carrying around 1,000 prisoners.
Laura: Australia.
Ron: Yes. Meeting called between the clergy, nobility and people of France. The Blank. General.
Laura: M Assembly.
Ron: No.
Laura: I don't know.
Ron: Notorious prisons stormed by the Paris mob who found just seven prisoners inside.
Laura: Bastille.
Ron: Yes. Sadistic writer who was transferred out of that prison just two days before it was stormed. Marquis de Sade King who went mad in 1788 but recovered after a year or so.
Laura: George. The George. The George.
Ron: George iii.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Planet discovered by William Herschel.
Laura: Neptune?
Ron: No. Um.
Laura: Pluto?
Ron: Not a planet.
Laura: Venus?
Ron: Nope.
Laura: Jupiter.
Ron: Venus we've known about forever.
Laura: Uh, Uranus.
Ron: Yes. Ship commanded by William Bligh that mutinied in the South Pacific.
Laura: The Bounty. That was a busy decade, wouldn't it?
Ron: Paradise like adventure which that ship had parad. Paradise like island which that ship had visited and the sailors didn't want to leave.
Laura: Say that again, sorry.
Ron: Paradise like island which that ship which the Bounty had visited and the sailors didn't want to leave. Hmm.
Laura: I mhm. Thought they ended up on Pitcairn.
Ron: Uh, it's not giving it to me.
Laura: Madagascar. Hawaii.
Ron: No, none of these are.
Laura: Dunno.
Ron: Chemical element identified by Antoine Lavisier who combined it with oxygen to form water hydrogen. Industrial city which built its first cotton mill, setting it on the path to become the world's leading textiles hub.
Laura: Manchester.
Ron: Yes. Country led by King Rama the first, who moved the capital from Thonburi to its present location.
Laura: India?
Ron: No.
Laura: Sri Lanka?
Ron: No.
Laura: Pakistan?
Ron: No.
Laura: Cambodia?
Ron: No.
Laura: Laos?
Ron: Well, kind of Cambodia.
Laura: Vietnam?
Ron: No more. This country doesn't exist anymore.
Laura: Um, but it was around there.
Ron: Yes. Modern day country in which Tupacamuru led a revolt of indigenous people against Spanish rule.
Laura: Peru.
Ron: Yes. Mountain on the French Italian border that was summited for the first time.
Laura: Mont Blanc.
Ron: Yes. 1783 treaty that officially ended the American Revolution. Um, the Treaty of Blank.
Laura: Washington?
Ron: No.
Laura: Versailles. Let's just put it.
Ron: You got two seconds. Cambridge Treaty of Paris.
Laura: Ah.
First city to ratify U.S. constitution was Philadelphia
Uh, that's basically for size. In Paris.
Ron: Yeah. That's huge. We've got the city where the U.S. constitution was drafted. Mmm.
Laura: Mount Vernon.
Ron: No. Philadelphia. First city to ratify the U.S. constitution. Delaware. You're not getting that. Peninsula annexed by Russia in 1783.
Laura: Crimea.
Ron: Yes. European island where about 25% of the population died when a volcanic eruption killed most of the crops.
Laura: Um, Sicily.
Ron: No. Iceland. Prime Minister of Great Britain, who followed his in his father's footsteps and became, at age 24, the youngest PM in British history.
Laura: Pit the younger.
Ron: Yes. Laura. Well, there we go.
Laura: See, I'm smart at some things.
Ron: Yeah, that was really good. It was the Estates General.
Laura: Estates General, Yeah. I've listened to a podcast about the French Revolution recently.
Ron: Twas Tahiti.
Laura: Tahiti, okay.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Uh, did they end up. Didn't ancestors of the Mutiny on the Bounty end up on Pitcairn?
Ron: Uh, potential. Yeah.
Laura: Because I think. Oh, and I don't want to just spread, but I think, don't they have, like, more relaxed incest laws there because. Because of how small the population is. Yeah. 14 were M captured on Tahiti and imprisoned on board Pandora, which then searched without success for Christian's party that had hidden on Pitcairn. And let's not go into the other thing I brought up, because that's just a sad story.
Ron: Oh, goodness.
Laura: Okay, well, good for me. I know more about the 1780s than I do about shells. But actually, I think this quiz is going to go all right, Ron. I think I can learn that.
Ron: Yeah. I think it's just a lot of fiddly knowledge.
Laura: Yeah. Yeah. And, um, I think it's gonna go in and I'm gonna stick to my New Year's resolution of actually learning things as I go along instead of doing the lesson and then walking away. The quiz will
00:40:00
Laura: never happen. And, um, then we'll be able to build on this knowledge.
Ron: Yeah. And just heads up for the quiz. It's going to be a lot of just kind of knowing which shells get filled first.
Laura: Mm, mhm. Tacos.
Ron: Well, I'll see you later for plat.
Laura: Um, I do keep meaning to revise this one. Won't be too bad though. It was just those shells. That's all we did.
Ron: Yeah, but the thing about this one is that there's not really a way to test you on this. Apart from basically just sort of getting you to recite. Don't look at them now.
Laura: I can revise now. The quiz hasn't started yet.
Ron: Quiz starts. Too late for revision now, bucko.
Laura: But Ron, stop revising. I'm not revising.
Ron: Eyes upwards, piggy. Eyes to the skies, please.
Laura: Oh, Ron, if you just give me one minute now to look at my piece of paper, this will be a much better quiz environment.
Ron: Why was there coconut water on your back door today
Ron: Um, okay, but while you do that, we've got to play just a minute on the topic of pineapples.
Laura: Okay? Go talk about pineapples.
Ron: No, you starting.
Laura: I can't talk about pineapples and learn about shells.
Ron: Well, you're gonna have to.
Laura: Uh, I cleaned all the coconut water off my back door this morning.
Ron: Why was there coconut water on your back door? Is this the story I want to hear?
Laura: Because. Because I bought coconut for the family, thinking, that's great, but she. You were here when the coconut was here. Actually, it was dry.
Ron: You brought it for the family?
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: What is it for the family?
Laura: For all of us to eat.
Ron: Isn't all the food you get for everyone to eat?
Laura: No. Some food is just for me. And I get really cross when other people eat it.
Ron: Oh, my God, your mum.
Laura: You know, I. Those are my lunch hoops. You know this about me, Ron? Yeah.
Ron: You're Mum.
Laura: Of course I'm Mum. Look at my face. It's Mum's face. Look at all my behaviour. It's Mum's behaviour. Speckled in with a little bit of dad.
Ron: Close the book. That was a minute.
Laura: Ah, you distracted me.
Ron: Close the book.
Laura: Oh, this is gonna be a blubber.
Ron: So, anyway, you bought this coconut for the family?
Laura: Is this part of the quiz?
Ron: No, just wanted to hear about it.
Laura: Yeah, I bought coconut for the family, and, um, I couldn't open it, so I just threw it on the floor in the back garden. And then all the water splashed up the back door. And it's been there since. Oh, um, that was about three weeks ago. And today I cleaned it off.
What shape is an S orbital, Laura? A circle? A sphere
Ron: What shape is an S orbital, Laura?
Laura: A circle? A sphere. A sphere.
Ron: Um, Laura, what shape is a P orbital?
Laura: I think a P is the two dumbbells.
Ron: Yeah. Yeah. It's like one dumbbell. It's like something you hold in the middle and it's got, like, a weight on either side. Yeah, that's a dumbbell.
Laura: Yeah, but isn't there more than one?
Ron: Well, that's the next question. How many P orbitals make a subshell?
Laura: M M. I'm gonna go with my gut. 2. 3.
Ron: It is 3.
Laura: Damn it. Stupid gut. I'm so smart. My gut's so thick.
Ron: Laura, what is the order of the first six subshells?
Laura: Six?
Ron: Yeah, six.
Laura: That seems like a lot. Right, so it's like. It's S1 and then it's subshells he's asking for. Okay, so it's S1.
Ron: Actually, let's do seven.
Laura: No, um, Ron M. I've said one twice, and you are adding a shell.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: You're mad. Okay, I'm not looking at my thing. I'm making notes to myself. So I think it's. It's S1, and then it's S1 P1. And then it's. No, sorry, it's S2 P2. Because it's like shell two, isn't it? And then it's S3 P3. I wonder what the next one was called. Um, I can't remember. We'll call it W as a placeholder. But then. Then we get to the point where one of them's, like,
00:45:00
Laura: sneaky, sneaking in, and it's like S4 appears before. Maybe it was D. D is ringing a bell. I'm gonna put D in. Okay, here's my guess, Ron. S1 S2 P2. S3 P3. S4. D3.
Ron: That's exactly right. Seven marks.
Laura: Oh, my God, I'm so happy that Dee appeared out of nowhere into my, um, Coconut.
Ron: Nine out of ten today, Laura. That wasn't the bloodbath we were expecting.
Laura: No. Oh, I'm happy with that. Well done both of us, babe. Brain training I've been doing is really paying off.
Ron: Yeah. All of that duolingo.
Laura: Oh, Jamarsh.
Ron: Uh.
Laura: Elle don'ts so much egg. I'm so happy that we're literally only doing this intro because last year I feel like eggy content ran on for months.
Ron: What was the egg a thon last year?
Laura: It was an apartseize episode and I'd made mine to dust, I think.
Ron: Oh, uh, yeah. And it was that one Deviled an egg.
Laura: I can't remember. No, wasn't that the first year? Last year was chocolate and. Or eggs.
Ron: Right.
Laura: Maybe that was the first year.
Ron: I don't know. Everyone do an egg a thon re listen and let us know next year.
Laura: We'Re going to try and get Meg involved. If you're not a patron, you missed the second two crimes in a line. The reappearance of Meg and her very cute dogs. They were loud. Uh, m sorry, uh, again, listeners, about the slight technical issue at the end of that, but, um, nothing I could be bothered to do about it.
Ron: Uh, thank, um, you to patron mystic for finding the Simpsons game I was banging on about at some point.
Laura: Have you played it?
Ron: It's called Krusty's Funhouse. It's not as fun as I remember.
Laura: Oh, that's sad.
Ron: It's Krusty's okay house.
Laura: Krusty's average house.
Ron: Yeah.
The clocks went forward again, so my kitchen is accurate again
What's going on with Ron? What's Ron? Um, well, the clocks went forward again, so my. The clock in my kitchen is accurate again, so I just didn't change that for six months. Um, uh, going to the gym quite a lot because I got a lot of free time.
Laura: You got a new job?
Ron: Yeah, I did. I did get a new job. That's nice. Um, trying out a new supplement. It's nice.
Laura: Is it heroin?
Ron: No, but the first two letters are very mean. Shh.
Laura: Don't give it away, Ron. Um, I had to do stand up with a mic stand last night, Ron.
Ron: Yeah, you told me last night after you did it.
Laura: I know, but now I'm telling you with listeners listening. Oh, some egg just manoeuvred out from a tooth crack and into the main portion of my mouth.
Ron: I have to go flush this out my dry sockets.
Laura: Wow. Oh, it just. It just wandered into the main vestibule. Um, how long does it take to walk to Bristol Temple Means from here?
Ron: Um, with your stumps? 40 minutes.
Laura: Okay, we need to wrap this up then. Thanks for listening. Join the Patreon. See you at all of my live shows. Well done, Rodin, for your clock.
Ron: Class dismissed.
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