# Hot Weather Shrinks Clothes?



## FreeSpirit777

So I know the washer/dryer can shrink clothes.. but what about hot/humid weather in the summer?

Like I am outside a lot, and it's very hot here and soon to be in the 80's/90's with high humidity.. is there any chance of my clothes I am wearing shrinking a bit from the heat?


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## FreeSpirit777

Does anyone know? thanks


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## FreeSpirit777

does anyone know if this is true or not? Like my room doesn't have a/c on at times, and today it was 85 degree in my room...


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## LandOfTheSnakes

I think you're just getting fatter


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## Orion

LandOfTheSnakes said:


> I think you're just getting fatter


Agree. Odds are you gained weight over winter.


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## Antipode

Well, it's not really the heat in the dryer that shrinks your clothing. That wouldn't make any sense. Heat would actually cause molecules to expand--cold would cause molecules to constrict.

The reason why your clothes shrink while in the washer and dryer is because the clothes are constantly being slammed around against the cylinder inside, which stresses and pounds on the bonds that were used to weave the fibers together. After the beating, the once stretched fibers break and return to their original positions (the smaller, "shrunken" positions).

So, no, your clothes being in the heat will not cause your clothing to shrink.


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## VinnieBob

it all depends on the material 
plus leaving the clothes in the dryer too long will shrink them
while wearing them in hot weather will not


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## BlackDog

No, but people's clothes certainly seem smaller in the summer. Heh. 

Seriously though, never heard of that happening.


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## ae1905

BlackDog said:


> No, but people's clothes certainly seem smaller in the summer. Heh.



people seem hotter in summer, too....sure it isn't dat hawtness?


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## ae1905

there are a couple of easy explanations for why dryer heat shrinks clothes...natural clothing is made of woven threads, which in turn are made of fibres...fibres are made of many long-chain molecules all squished together...because of the bonds holding these molecules together, these molecules are not straight in shape but have many kinks...as you add heat energy to the molecules the atoms vibrate more vigorously causing the kinks to become even _kinkier_! (who said science isn't hawt!)...and kinkier molecules are shorter molecules, that is, the molecules shrink...it's all that shrinking on the microsopic scale that translates to visible shrinkage on the macroscopic scale

the other simple explanation is thermodynamics...as you add heat energy to these molecules, something called _entropy _rises...entropy is a fancy word for _disorder_...and kinkier molecules are more disorderly since it takes much more information to describe the positions and motions of the atoms than a molecule that is arranged in a straight line--ie, the atoms in the kinkier molecule exhbit more _randomness _(ie, less order) than the atoms in a straight molecule

in hot weather, air temperatures are not as high as you find in dryers and clothes are not as wet nor are they being worn and stretched by the person wearing the clothes and by gravity...but if the garment becomes damp (from sweat) and is allowed to dry in the open air, then you should see some shrinkage from the _stretched and dampened _size (it may still be larger than when newly washed and dried)


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## FreeSpirit777

@Antipode thank you for that, I didn't know that  I appreciate it. Take care.


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## MerabTera21

Thank you very much ae1905 for a detailed explanation, and then I had a similar problem, but in fact, as written above, I just got fatter. Since I have not yet made heating in my house, I have to use air conditioning in winter. Which by the way very well helps to dry things as it blows dry air. And it was terrible when it broke right in the coldest month of winter. But thanks to the guys from here *link removed *my problem was quickly solved.


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