Friday, June 01, 2018
Dryer theory
Why does a load of clothing sometimes come out of the dryer nearly sorted, and other times perfectly unsorted?
When sorted, all the washcloths are clustered together, all the underpants are together, all the socks are together. I can grab several of each item in one handful and toss the handful into the proper spot in my clothing shelf.
When unsorted, each single item has to be handled separately. The washcloths are equally distributed among the socks, the socks are everywhere, etc.
Clue: The sorted days are low-static days. The unsorted days are annoyingly sticky and sparky days.
Hypothesis: Tumbling sorts clothes by weight and size. Static acts most strongly between different materials. Opposite charges attract. A pillowcase wants to pair up with a T-shirt. A sock wants to pair up with a washcloth. The natural sorting by weight and size is much weaker than the static force, so the dissimilar grouping wins.
¶ 3:50 AM 
