1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here with a classic episode 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: from what host who came before? Christian Sager. This is 4 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: a topic we stumbled on a few years back and 5 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: just had to do an episode about because it turns 6 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: out that dry cleaning isn't dry. So what is it? Hey, 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: brain stuff, it's Christian Sager. Have you ever wondered how 8 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: dry cleaning is actually dry? Well, you're about to know. 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: You're about to know how dry cleaning works a little bit. 10 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:39,160 Speaker 1: So dry cleaning, here's the thing. It's not really dry. 11 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,919 Speaker 1: It's actually using liquids. It just doesn't use water, and 12 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:46,239 Speaker 1: that's why they call it dry cleaning, which, yeah, it's 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: pretty stupid, but look that's just the case. In the 14 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: old timey days, dry cleaning used to use a solvent 15 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: called kerosene. You might light your heater with it in 16 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: your home, especially if you live in a rural area 17 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: and you don't have electric city. But people figured out 18 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: that kerosene is not that great for clothes, especially once 19 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: we had something called para chloral ethylene or perk in 20 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: dry cleaning vernacular. This is the solvent that's most commonly 21 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: used today. It's probably highly toxic. And there's a lot 22 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: of dry cleaners out there that you'll see say they 23 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: use greener methods. Now, when you see that, they're usually 24 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:30,639 Speaker 1: using liquefied carbon dioxide, which is a lot greener than perk, 25 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: and which is again a highly toxic solvent, but it works. Now. 26 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: A dry cleaning machine looks a lot like a combination 27 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: washer dryer that you might see, you know, an industrial 28 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: sized one, and it is a finely tuned instrument. What 29 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: the dry cleaner will do is throw your clothes in 30 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: there with this perk or whatever solvent it is that 31 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: they're using, and they heat it to a perfect eighties 32 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: six degrees fahrenheit. Anything more than that it's just going 33 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: to destroy your clothes, and anything less than that it 34 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: might not have the cleaning ability that you wanted to have. 35 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: And it's going to agitate it and take the perk 36 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: and filter it out and reuse it. And then when 37 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: it's finally done, all of the perk is going to 38 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:18,079 Speaker 1: be captured and reused and sequestered before they even open 39 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,959 Speaker 1: the door, because you don't want this stuff going into 40 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,519 Speaker 1: the atmosphere and then voila you have a dry cleaned 41 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: wet shirt that has been cleaned with industrial solvents, and 42 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: that is dry cleaning. And yes, it's wet still, but 43 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: at least it's not water. Today's episode was written by 44 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: me and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this 45 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: and lots of other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. 46 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of my heart Radio. For more 47 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: podcasts my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 48 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.