Why does hanging your wet clothes make them dry? Even when it’s not hit by sunlight.

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I hang some of my wet clothes indoors. And they become dry eventually. They’re not hit by sunlight, and the room’s temperature is not high either. So why is it drying?

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5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because water is always evaporating. The air doesn’t have to be warm to cause the water to evaporate, warm air will do it faster but it’s not necessary

Anonymous 0 Comments

Water from the clothes becomes a gas vapor. When clothes are hung, a greater surface of them is in contact with air and may be hit by a draft that brings dry air to them. Plastic fibers hold on to water poorly, and some of it will drain to the bottom because of gravity and drip out still in liquid form.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Like what other people have said, remember every system wants to equalise pressure and density.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because the relative humidity in your house is below 100%. Water will evaporate, this will cool off the clothes, but because the clothes are now cooler than the air, heat will transfer from the air to the clothes, letting more water evaporate. It’s just slower than other options.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The water molecules are all vibrating randomly. They move around and bump into each other all the time. This molecular motion is the temperature. When it’s warmer, the molecules move and bump around faster. When it’s colder, they’re slower. If it gets hot enough, then the molecules move so fast that they can break free of the forces holding them and become lone molecules flying out on their own. That’s called evaporation. As for how this happens in your laundry without adding heat, remember that all these molecules are moving around randomly. Every so often, just by chance, a molecule will collide and get bumped in such a way that it comes away moving faster than it was before while the others are moving slower. That faster molecule can gain enough speed to break free and go off on its own. Over time, this eventually happens to each water molecule, and your laundry gets dry.