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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com

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Speaker 1: where smart happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question,

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Speaker 1: what is the crystalline substance found in disposable diapers? The

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Speaker 1: crystals come from the super absorbent layer found in most

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Speaker 1: disposable diapers. This layer consists of paper, fluff and a

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Speaker 1: chemical absorbent called sodium polyacrylate. Sodium polyaccrylate is an amazing

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Speaker 1: water absorber. It can absorb two hundred to three hundred

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Speaker 1: times it's weight, and tap water even more if the

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Speaker 1: water is distilled and it holds it as a gooey gel.

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Speaker 1: Sodium polyaccrylate is a polymer, meaning that it consists of

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Speaker 1: chains of identical units called monomers. The monomer for sodium

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Speaker 1: polyaccrylate is a little carbon chain with a couple of

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Speaker 1: oxygen and sodium adams hanging off of it. It's a

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Speaker 1: pretty cool polymer. Shake the crystals out of a new diaper,

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Speaker 1: or buy the crystals at a garden center and add

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Speaker 1: water or to them to see just how amazing they are.

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Speaker 1: There's concern in certain circles about the use of sodium

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Speaker 1: polyacculate next to a child's skin. The concern is often

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Speaker 1: used as an argument against disposable diapers. Obviously, most people

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Speaker 1: considered a minor issue. Just about every disposable diaper contains

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Speaker 1: the crystals. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for

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Speaker 1: this podcast? If so, please send me an email at

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Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff works dot com. For more on

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Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics, go to how stuff

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Speaker 1: works dot com