vampireheart11 Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 Hi! Can anyone explain the involvement of centripetal force in the operation of a washing machine? And how the spin dryer of the machine is able to dry the clothes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 Hi!Can anyone explain the involvement of centripetal force in the operation of a washing machine? And how the spin dryer of the machine is able to dry the clothes? What do you think? Is this a homework question? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainPanic Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 You can actually test this at home. It's a fun experiment, and it will make a lot of things wet around you: -Take a towel, and soak it in water. -Swing it rapidly around, and see if the towel is losing water or not. -If other things get wet, then it is probably safe to conclude that this water is coming from the towel. (Don't do this in the rain, you cannot observe the water!) -If other things got wet, you can conclude that the towel became a little drier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timetes Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 i get it but then whats the purpose of the heat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 i get it but then whats the purpose of the heat Water evaporates faster as temperature goes up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npts2020 Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 It is the heat that dries the clothes, not the centripital force. The reason a drier rotates is for the same reason you hang clothes on a line instead of just leaving them in a pile to dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 It is the heat that dries the clothes, not the centripital force. The reason a drier rotates is for the same reason you hang clothes on a line instead of just leaving them in a pile to dry. The centripetal force does do some drying in the washing machine, during the spin cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npts2020 Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 The centripetal force does do some drying in the washing machine, during the spin cycle. Very true in the washer. Similar to swinging a wet towel around your head. It would be a mistake to think that has more than a negligible amount, if anything, to do with the drying in a dryer, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtyamerica Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 The centripetal force that acts on the laundry is done by the spinning drum. It keeps the clothing from flying off. At the top of the path of the clothing's travel, additional centripetal force (gravity) kicks in and the clothing falls until it meets back up with the dryer drum (having overcome the centrifical force of it's acceleration (not really and change in speed but it's constantly changing direction). The falling clothing allows the laundry "air time" to aid in drying and a mechanical way of changing the position of the fabrics so different areas are exposed to the warm air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Very true in the washer. Similar to swinging a wet towel around your head. It would be a mistake to think that has more than a negligible amount, if anything, to do with the drying in a dryer, though. Quite right. The tumbling is to expose surfaces to allow water to evaporate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npts2020 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Exactly. Kinda like hanging them instead of leaving them in a pile, then blowing hot air over them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
north Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Hi!Can anyone explain the involvement of centripetal force in the operation of a washing machine? And how the spin dryer of the machine is able to dry the clothes? the washing machine ; pins clothes to the wall of the washing machine drum and draws out the water by shear rotational speed dryer ; heat and by rotation by the dryer drum exposes all clothes to heat and also expending moisture into the outside oops neither the washing machine or dryer have anything to do with centripetal force centripetal force ; directed or tending towards the center the opposite of centrifugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 the washing machine ; pins clothes to the wall of the washing machine drum and draws out the water by shear rotational speed dryer ; heat and by rotation by the dryer drum exposes all clothes to heat and also expending moisture into the outside oops neither the washing machine or dryer have anything to do with centripetal force centripetal force ; directed or tending towards the center the opposite of centrifugal No, that's incorrect. The force that the washer exerts on the clothes in the spin cycle is toward the center of the machine. Which is exactly what the centripetal force is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 It would be a mistake to think that has more than a negligible amount, if anything, to do with the drying in a dryer, though. I very much doubt that. In fact, I have seen a faulty dryer which had a broken heating element (or whatever it is that provides heat) but could still spin the clothes. Although it didn't get them completely dry, they were no longer wet after the cycle - only damp. Sometimes you get these spinner things in pool changing rooms too. Put your swimsuit in for 5 seconds and it gets spun with no heat. It comes out damp, but is a lot dryer than you could achieve by wringing out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npts2020 Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 I very much doubt that. In fact, I have seen a faulty dryer which had a broken heating element (or whatever it is that provides heat) but could still spin the clothes. Although it didn't get them completely dry, they were no longer wet after the cycle - only damp. Sometimes you get these spinner things in pool changing rooms too. Put your swimsuit in for 5 seconds and it gets spun with no heat. It comes out damp, but is a lot dryer than you could achieve by wringing out. Clothes will also dry in freezing cold air when hung out on a line so the fact that the heating element doesn't work only decreases the efficiency and doesn't prevent the machine from totally working. I am not familiar with spinners in a pool locker room but I would be willing to bet that their rotation speed is much higher than a dryer, similar to a washing machine's spin cycle. The high speed will fling the water out of the fabric. In a dryer the idea is just to keep exposing surfaces to hot air for efficiency sake (reason for the slower speed). Assuming they are already wrung out from the spin cycle of the washer, somebody would have to show me that a dryer spins fast enough to be above the minimum speed required for a measurable amount of water to do anything besides evaporate from the clothes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 I am not familiar with spinners in a pool locker room but I would be willing to bet that their rotation speed is much higher than a dryer, similar to a washing machine's spin cycle. Maybe that is the crux. In my part of the world we usually don't have separate dryers - we have washer-dryers which do both jobs, and the dryer part spins (at times) as fast as the spin cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npts2020 Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Maybe that is the crux. In my part of the world we usually don't have separate dryers - we have washer-dryers which do both jobs, and the dryer part spins (at times) as fast as the spin cycle. Yes, I can now see why you had questions about what I said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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