Why do you wash the clothes?
That’s a good question.
Of cause I wash my clothes to keep them clean from dirt/soil, from food/oil, and from my own scraps of skin/sweat/discharge which is the dirtiest part.
Dirt and soil like an inactive mineral that are usually on the outside of the clothes are easy to clean even with just water.
But organic material such as skin, sweat and discharges, which are usually found on the underwear, are not so easy to clean. You will need chemical action to resolve and mechanical action to break down the matter that was tied into the fiber of the clothes.
What will happen if we leave the contaminated clothes with bacteria on them for a couple of days or weeks? Soon the bacteria will make black spots, damage your clothes, smell nasty and finally make you sick.
Under very favorable circumstances, as long as there is enough food, optimum temperature and no poisons in the environment, the bacterial colony will grow exponentially.
There can be a doubling of bacteria every 15 minutes or so. That means 4 doublings an hour and 96 doublings a day. Even though a bacterium weighs only about a trillionth of a gram, its descendants, after a day of wild asexual abandon, will collectively weigh as much as a mountain; in a little over a day and a half as much as the Earth; in two days more than the Sun. And before long, everything in the Universe will be made of bacteria.
Let’s calculate how many grams of bacteria will be after one day.
After 15 min. ; 2
1 hour later. ; 24
1 day later. ; 296
S = 1 + 2 + 22 + 23 + 24 + . . . . + 296
2S = 2 + 22 + 23 + 24 + . . . . . .+ 296 + 297
2S – S = S = 297 -1
210 = 1000 = 103
297 = (210)9 x 27
= (103)9 x 128
= 1027 x 128
Total weight of the bacteria after 1 day. ; T
T = Number of the bacteria x 1 trillionth gram.
= 128 x 1027 / 1012
= 128 x 1015 grams
=128 x 109 Ton
T = 128,000,000,000 Ton
That is not a very happy prospect, and fortunately it never happens.
Why not?
Please relax!
Because exponential growth of this sort always bumps into some natural obstacle. The bacteria run out of food, or they poison each other, or are shy about reproducing when they have hardly any privacy. Exponentials can’t go on forever, because they will gobble up everything. Long before then they encounter some impediment. The exponential curve flattens out.)
Back to washing theory.
I might exaggerate too much.
However, we need to wash or sanitize the clothes more often at least once a week to avoid bacterial problems, specially underwear and blanket/comforter/pillowcases that directly contact to our skin.
I know you shower almost everyday.
How often do you think you should wash the clothes?
Everyday? Every other day? Or Once a week?
Steve Choy
