Water carrying straight on
Why Does Spinning Get Clothes Dry?
Spinning does not throw water out; the water keeps going straight while the drum turns the clothes.
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Step 1 of 5
Spinning does not fling water outward.
Nothing pushes the water away from the centre. It is travelling in a straight line and the drum wall is what keeps curving out of its way.
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Step 2 of 5
Anything moving keeps going straight.
A drop of water in a turning drum has no reason to curve. Left alone it heads off along the line it was already travelling.
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Step 3 of 5
The wall bends the clothes, not the water.
Fabric is held back by the drum, so it is forced round the circle. Water meets holes instead of wall, and passes straight through them.
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Step 4 of 5
Faster spinning squeezes harder.
The tighter the turn the clothes are forced into, the more firmly they are pressed to the wall and the more water is driven out of them.
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Step 5 of 5
Only water that reaches a hole can leave.
The clothes are pressed against the drum, water is pushed through the fabric to the holes, and the outer tub collects it for the pump.
A 1,400 spin cycle presses clothes against the drum with roughly 500 times the force of gravity.
The short version
A spin cycle dries clothes because water keeps travelling straight while the drum forces the clothes to turn, so the water exits through the holes.
Try it yourself
Swing a bucket of wet cloth in a circle on a rope outdoors. Water leaves along the line it was travelling, not outward from your hand.
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