Sent to me by my brother:
Prof. Fillmer enters the classroom:
"Ahem...let me begin the lecture, if you please. Today we ponder the question, if you were to collect all the lint in the lint trap of a dryer that dried socks until they disappeared, would you have enough collected lint to weave the socks again?
Physicists know that matter cannot be destroyed, it simple changes to another form. Water becomes invisible as water vapor, or as you know it in KY 'humidity'. It's all there but in a different form.
Likewise, your well washed socks disappear in many ways. Bits of their fiber fall off in your shoes, as you walk around with socking feet, and as they are tumbled around in the dryer. What's collected in the lint trap is only part of their disintegration, but very visible to you since it's all in one place. But the fabric in the socks is also changing to other invisible forms as you wear them and as they go through the washer and dryer. Molecules of the various compounds and chemicals that make the socks may be changing to gas because of heat, water, or even the perspiration on your footsies.
So, in summary, yes one would have almost enough lint to almost equal the socks if you collected all the dryer lint, but much of the socks disappear into the atmosphere, the carpet, the sock drawer, and your shoe crevices.
And a few socks sacrifice themselves to the Great Single Sock Void never again to pair up with the partner they were created with in the sock factory of their origin. Test next Tuesday"
This concludes Prof. Fillmer's lecture on the Lenten Season Lint Mystery of the Socks.
Bell rings, class shuffles out, leaving countless bits of their socks on the floor to be swept up by the custodial who pays no tribute to the lint left behind.
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3 comments:
Finally, someone concludes Carl Sagan's dramatic work on the Cosmos, whittling the Great Lint Question down into laymen's terms in an entertaining yet enjoyable manner.
I was very impressed with the good professor's lecture. However, the one factor not considered was what if the socks were never worn? What if they just continued in a cycle of wash/dry until they either spontaneously combusted, as Shley suggested, or just fell apart, or disappeared altogether?
And I do think this is ultimately what happens to the mystery missing sock...it just turns into lint.
"Darn" those socks!! Auntie A
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