Day 6: Who Killed My Mate??

Where do all the socks go?

Motivation: I was doing laundry and wondered if socks ever get stuck under that spinner thing in the middle.  Which made me think about how I have a basket with socks that are missing their mates.  So I wondered if there was a scientific explanation.

Answer: 

I started this with a google search per my norm, using the phrase "where do missing socks go?"  

Clearly this is a very popular question because people had written articles about it, asks thousands of wiki questions and even made YouTube videos!

I really wanted to know, though, so I decided to look for the more scientific sounding websites because this question sounds scientific.  Well, there weren't too many on the first couple search pages, so I went back to one that was an article written for Yahoo.  And guess what- the Holy Grail!  This woman actually did all the research for me and wrote it in her own article.

Here's what I discovered:

1. That thingamajiggy in the middle is called an agitator.
2. My guess was pretty accurate.  According to the article's author, "When I donated an old washing machine several years ago, I pried up the agitator and found nearly 20 missing socks. They had woven themselves around the rod, resembling something like a kindergarten art project. Now, I regularly remove the agitator to check for missing items. To remove the agitator of your machine, simply pry up the agitator cap, unscrew the nut and bolt, and gently tug straight up. It's that simple."
3. Static clean.  This one is fairly obvious.  I am quite sure that everyone has experienced pulling something out of the dryer and eventually finding a sock stuck to it.  (FYI, I HATE HATE HATE static.)

Rumination: Looks like I should be a mensa participant cause I was right.  Sure I didn't know what that spinner thingy was, but my guess was pretty spot on.  I even contemplated doing what she suggested... but I didn't.  I may try to run my hand under there or even like a coat hanger or something, but not right this second.  Someone else had mentioned finding socks in the drain of the washer, but I don't know what that is or how you get there (it isn't my goal on this blog to tell people how appliances function.)

Although I found some logical answers, I think there must be some other phenomena out there, because I doubt the agitator could fit that many socks under it if you think about how long washers usually last and how many socks get washed in that time.