How does a washing machine work?

A washing machine doesn't scrub your clothes. It lifts them and drops them about once a second, then spins them so hard the drum wall pushes 400 times harder than gravity. A front-loader has a perforated steel drum that spins inside a still outer tub that holds the water.

Read how it works: How does a washing machine work? · The history of the washing machine · More boxes on Glassbox

Chapters in this interactive model

1. Inside a washing machine: A drum inside a tub, hung on springs, with a motor, a pump and a few valves.
2. Clothes get clean by falling: Lifters carry the clothes up, and gravity drops them through the water.
3. How detergent lifts grease: Molecules with a water-loving head and an oil-loving tail.
4. Spinning the water out: At 1,200 rpm the drum wall pushes about 400 times harder than gravity.
5. Why a washer shakes and walks: One lump of wet clothes at full spin pulls with thousands of newtons.
6. Where the water and energy go: Heating the water uses far more energy than turning the drum.