Yellow Peeps plus blue die make green Always pads? Coincidence? I don't think so.

People who follow my often TMI Twitter feed might remember rash of updates comparing the sponginess of Always Infinity pads to marshmallow Peeps, to the delight and disgust of many of my readers.  This only encouraged me, so I decided to cut one open to examine what the miracle “Infinicel” material was like out of the wrapper and to check and see if it really was made up of ground up Peeps.

But what is Infinicel?

From the Always press release

“In contrast to current cellulose core materials, Infinicel has an  integrated two-layer structure that removes fluid from the top of the pad and transports it into the bottom layer, where it is distributed and stored. This allows the pad to continue absorbing fluid away from the source for a lighter fluid mark on the pad surface.”

Of course, I was not convinced.

I do believe that Sir Isaac Newton would have carried on similar experiments in his day if he had been exposed to both sanitary napkins and Peeps.

For this experiment, I used both “stale” Peeps (Peeps that have been open for at least a week and are chewy) and “fresh” Peeps (Peeps just unwrapped which are softer and squishier).   Stale Peep on the left and a fresh bird on the right.   Note that the Infinicel really does look like the cross section of a stale peep.

Sadly, I unable to get the funding for a microscope for a closer examination.

Closer look.   Eerily similar, but the pad material is much denser.

Just what the people (Peep-el?) at Crate & Barrel had in mind when they designed these plates.

One ounce of water with blue food coloring — because red water scares off marketing people, squeamish men, and strict vegans worried about ground up ants found in many red food dyes — was poured on each peep and the pad.

No chicks were drown during this test.

And after twenty-five minutes, the pad was the clear winner.

Okay, maybe this would have been gross with red dye.

While hard to see in this picture,  the Infinicel inside really did draw all the water to the bottom of the pad while the top layer remained dry.

The Peeps had the reverse reaction; the outer layer of marshmallow absorbed some of the water but kept the inside of the Peep dry.

Seeing how green the Peeps made the blue water, it is safe to say there is a lot of yellow dye in Peeps.

Both the stale and the fresh Peeps absorbed minimal fluids, leaving their insides dry.

So is Infinicel made out of ground up Peeps? Probably not.

New theory?

Inside-out Peeps.

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16 Responses to Almost Science: Always Infinity vs Peeps

  1. SA says:

    I’m pretty sure this is one of my favorite posts ever.

    That’s all.

  2. Mike Licht says:

    The Colonel’s secret recipe … for Peeps?

    See

    http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/finger-lickin-peeps//

  3. Janalee says:

    This is hilarious. Always good to see the scientific process at work.

  4. Sashi says:

    what exactly is this infinite made of, is it earth friendly

  5. jane says:

    Can this product safe to use? I’m trying to research the material so I can figure out if I’m allergic to it.

  6. I have no idea if it is earth friendly. Considering it is wrapped in plastic, I doubt it.

    Wait, are you talking about the peeps or the pads?

  7. […] How cool is this Peeps v. Always absorption test? […]

  8. miriam says:

    wow so amazing!

  9. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by TheStarterWife, smrtmnky. smrtmnky said: RT @TheStarterWife: Happy Peep Week! Time to revisit last year's Peep vs Maxipad experiment. http://bit.ly/bQxp5F ~~ alert the Nobel peeps […]

  10. kelly says:

    Tee hee

  11. David Roy says:

    So, this reminded me of when our daughter was a toddler, and loved to get into her baby pool. She would either take off her diaper immediately, or it would fall off after a few minutes in the pool.

    If left in the pool, the thing would absorb an insane amount of water. What would start as a tiny piece of plastic, would soon grow to something the size of a large butternut squash. It mesmerized us every time.

  12. Mary S. says:

    I came across this site whilst looking to see if these Infinicel materials are dangerous at all.. Anyway this made me laugh out loud so much right now!!!!! ;) You are hilarious :)

  13. anon says:

    She blinded me with Science!

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