So I am waiting for a pair of pants to dry before I leave on a trip.
I have heard it said that adding a dry towel to the wet item while running the dryer will decrease the ammount of time it takes for the wet item to dry.
On the surface, it seems to me, that this is what we do when we get out of the shower - run a dry towel over our wet selves. We are also adding dry surface area for the wet thing to rub against.
Now the old meteorologist in me thinks that while the relative humidity of the pants might lower, the absolute humidity of the contents of the dryer is what counts here, i.e. neither item will be entirely dry until they both are, and thats what counts.
What I haven’t taken into account is the rate of moisture transfer from wet pants to dry towel, and the relative evaporative rate of each item. And frankly, I don’t want to think about it right now. That’s what you guys are here for.
So, what’s the Straight Dope on the dryer dilemna?