Matches

In today's episode, Katie has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Matches! Uh huh, those little cardboard or wooden sticks you use to light things on fire. Hopefully not a lot of things, but candles, maybe! Zack thought he knew that matches were invented after lighters, and he was right! For being such a handy little gadget, matches did not come around until late in the game of humanity. Probably because there are some seriously dangerous chemicals involved, and we were not ready to handle them. Ancient China (I'm talking 5th century A.D.) had little sticks soaked in sulfur, but it wasn't until the 1820s that we had anything resembling the self-lighting matches that we know today. of course, there's a dark side -  hence the highlighted "phossy jaw" below, which, please, don't say we didn't warn you not to image search. But overall, matches are an exciting little topic that really sparked our imagination! 

Highlights Include:

- Dr. Teutonicus and his putrefied pee

- Another happy accident invention!

- Phossy jaw... don't google it

 

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Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Music by Jake Radvanksy