Why do duvet covers eat all the clothes in the dry-tumbler? Question from an actual 5 years old

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Hi!
My daughter has been pondering on something mysterious and the adults around her hasn´t provided any satisfactory answers at all. So she wanted me to ask the internet.

When we dry fabrics in the dry-tumbler the duvet cover more often than not swallows parts of the accompanying clothes and sheets, forcing us to turn it inside out to get to them.
“It´s just going round, round and the water goes out so why does it eat everything?

(My suggestion of dry-tumbler gnomes was quickly and rudely rejected)

In: Physics

18 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Duvet covers have a concave shape that traps clothes from falling out. As the dryer runs, other clothes get entangled into the blob of clothes, eventually forming a big blob. You can see a similar phenomenon of entanglement with a bedsheet too but the pocket shape of the cover is more effective.

You should reward your 5 year old for being inquisitive and follow it up with a practical lesson. You appear to have a curious child. Looking forward to seeing great things from her 🙂

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