How Does Silica Gel Work?

What is silica gel, and why do I find little packets of it in everything I buy? Lauren explains it all in this week's episode.

Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on the HowStuffWorks team to explore - and explain - the everyday science in the world around us on BrainStuff.

[FrederickDunn]

Wait... my entire life, I've not known "Adsorb" was a thing, I'm deeper for having watched this just 40 seconds in! Awesome! Thank you!

[cstll]

Great job freaking me out. I thought something was wrong with my computer when it started to fade out haha

[UrbnNinj]

Adsorbing....huh. Learn something new every day!
Thanks Lauren!

[oafkad]

When I worked at Circuit City (to date this story) one of our employees wanted to play a prank on the Manager of Televisions. She slipped silica packets into his coffee. He saw her do it and walked over and picked it up, slowly bringing it towards his mouth.

He looked at her and said "Man I was just unpacking stuff and found some of those silica packets." She smiled and nodded. He continued. "Crazy how they are extremely toxic."

She panicked and immediately tells him that there are some in his coffee and that she thought they were harmless. He then takes a swig and all the color from her face runs out.

For the rest of the day he would feign gagging anytime he walked by her and she was in a packet the entire time. It wasn't until close that he finally told her "Silica is sand. Sand is harmless."

Good times. I miss that group of weirdos sometimes.

[The_Notorious_N.O.E.]

I seriously wouldn't have mind it if she had gone on about all the other uses for silica packs for about another 2 or 3 minutes. That would be so helpful

[therealnoodles]

I use to dry my shoes after a good workout. Works, gets rid of odors and sweat inside the shoe.

[kingemocut]

preventing camara lens fogging while they fade out? well though of editor, well thought of.

[janicehastings]

When I put one of the silica gel packs on the side of my lower throat causing issues like sneezes, gagging, can't breathe, all from a shift of the hip by an Osteopath years back, which caused major breathing issues and due to a bad massage it can also shift this energy back complicating the breathing, but for me one little silica gel pack on the skin calms things please know your severity, for me it's only one side.

[GradeAUnderA]

Someone copied this video lol.

The similarities between the start part of this video above and this one (watch?v=2OsLyBXH3rA) made over 2 years after this one are shocking, especially the "adsorbs vs absorbs" point. I don't understand why people would do this shit.

Guess it means you're doing something right :p

[ThaPCGamers]

I found packets of silica gel in the hunger games game
It said do not eat
I was like "WTF"

[josephjackson]

Lol that was pretty funny the list of things that were useful for reusing silica gel

[chrisflanders]

there should be a video on the difference between absorb/adsorb. common misconception that i was unaware of

[sklanman]

I get a little pouch of the stuff every time I open a new hard drive at work. I've been throwing it out, but maybe I should be saving it and learn how to reuse it properly

[tariqme]

Your explaining is so easy to understand. Its makes is Interesting to listen sometimes boring subjects.

[badrinarayanankannan]

Thank you. This is more informative. Could you also explain how silicone is produced and different types of silicones. Why it is largely used as sealants.

[belnardocastelo]

Thank you for being concise and to the point without yada yada yada.

[AffordBindEquipment]

this seems to be good for use with items that are packaged or sealed off from the atmosphere. But I have seen people dry out wet cell phones with desiccant. How is that better than putting it in front of a fan? A fan will whisk off any water molecules that evaporate from the surface. Desiccant does not "extract" moisture, just absorbs it after it's come out of the item. A fan will move are into nooks and crannies the desiccant can't get to, moving the molecules out into open air.

[CARLOSB]

They are fun to use for Macro Photography too Lauren.

[PewLand]

I put them in my sealed ammo boxes to keep my .22lr ready for the zombie apocolypse lol

[gantmj]

I'm going to try to work in the word adsorb sometime, and watch people's confusion as they try to figure out why I'm saying absorb funny.