Question

Your clothing tends to cling together after going through the dryer. Why? Would you expect more or less clinging if all your clothes were made of the same material (say, cotton) than if you dried different kinds of clothing together? Again, why? (You may want to experiment with your next load of laundry.

Short answer

There will be less clinging when the material of the clothing is the same than when different clothing materials are put in the dryer.

Step-by-step solution

Reason behind clothes clinging together in a dryer.

The rubbing effect inside a dryer is the main reason for the clothes to acquire static charges due to friction. If various types of material is present at the same time inside the dryer then there will be charge pile up in some clothes and charge deficit in some leading to the clothes to cling with one another. The negative-positive charge gradient is erratic and comes from the dryer itself.

Explanation of the consequence of putting the same material clothing inside the dryer.

When the same material clothes like cotton is put inside for drying, the same kind of charge, i.e. the negative charges gets piled up on the clothes. All over the clothes, there will be electrons accumulated due to friction and therefore will give a net repulsion effect. So, there will be less to no clinging to clothes in this case.