Why do wet clothes dry outside in the winter?

Answer 1

Of course clothes can dry outside even in cold weather. Clothes dry not just due to heat but also due to the flow of wind through the fibres of the fabric. The wind carries away water thus making it dry although a little late.

Of course clothes won't really dry in freezing temperatures. The reason for that is because my husband says they will and we all know husbands are usually wrong about these type of things;-)

My response:

Yes, clothes can still dry in cold and even freezing temperatures. It will just happen more slowly.

When individual water molecules gain enough energy, they turn to water vapor. At lower temperatures, there is less heat for this to happen, but it can happen.

If the temperatures are below freezing and the water has all frozen, the individual ice molecules cannot technically evaporate. If the temperature gets above freezing and/or it's sunny enough, some of the ice can melt and the water can then evaporate.

However, frozen water can transition directly to water vapor in a process known as sublimation. It's covered on Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_vapor

Think of dry ice (carbon dioxide) - it goes from solid directly to gas. This is sublimation.

Frozen water can do this too. It won't happen as rapidly as with dry ice or as when liquid water evaporates, but it will happen.

Answer 2

The clothes will dry if the water can evaporate. Cold air can hold less water vapour than warm air, but it may still be sufficiently dry to absorb water from the clothes, albeit more slowly than in summer. It doesn't always work of course, sometimes the air is already saturated and the clothes are as wet when you bring them in as when you hung them out. With experience you can learn to tell if it's worth the effort.

Answer 3

Through sublimation, when water molecules go from ice to vapor w/o bothering with a liquid state in between

Answer 4

The wind dries the clothes if the laundry is outdoors. If indoors the heat source of the house dries the clothes.

Answer 5

Yes they do but there is such a thing as a hot wind that could dry clothes but it may make them damp from the humidity .hope this answered your question.

Answer 6

because the sun helps them dry