Desiccant

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen those little packets of beads that come in your new shoes or backpack? Those beads are called desiccants.

Desiccants are things that help keep stuff dry. They work by absorbing water from the air around them. For example, when a desiccant is put in a bag with something damp, like a camera or a pair of shoes that got wet, the desiccant sucks up the moisture so the thing inside the bag stays dry.

The desiccant beads are usually made out of things like silica gel or a mineral called zeolite. These materials have lots of tiny pores that can trap water molecules.

It's important to keep things dry because too much moisture can cause things to get moldy or start to break down. So, next time you find a little packet of beads in your stuff, you know that it's a desiccant and it's keeping your things dry!