[IzzieC (OP)]

Chani has been in touch...

"I used to think that all those missing single socks were hanging out at some pub in the back of the dryer. But now that my kids moved out and I don't use the dryer, I realise this theory is no longer valid.
 
Is there a scientific or physical explanation for where those socks go? Why they are so unhappy in monogamous relationships?

But seriously, could it be a case of quantum entanglement?"

What do you think?

[chiralSPO]

Personally, I blame entropy...

[syhprum]

You are looking in the wrong universe try one of the other 10^500

[Bored chemist]

I typically blame the Tory government.

[Colin2B]

It is well known that in the presence of washing powder in a controlled environment a pair of socks (right + left) will decay into a single sock and a lump of fluff.

[alancalverd]

I typically blame the Tory government.

quote from Hansard

The Rt Hon Teresa May: People ask why we have not negotiated an acceptable deal with Brussels or reversed climate change. Mr Speaker, we have spent the last two years tidying up the odd socks left by decades of socialist mismanagement and incompetence. It ill behoves the honorable gentleman to lay the blame for oddsockery at the feet of the present administration when he knows full well that these are big shoes to fill, and they will not be filled with run-of-the-mill, bleak, conformist, red socks. I will not dance to his tune.

Bored Chemist: Mr Speaker, if all socks were indeed run-of-the-mill, conformist and red, there could only be at most one odd sock in the entire universe. The problem is entirely of the government's making in forcing socular diversity on the suffering public who, given a clear choice in the matter, would surely vote monochrome........

et simuli ad infinitum

Editor's note: Many years ago I shared a house with a good friend Mike who only ever bought Marks & Spencer plain green socks, on the grounds that they could be worn with any color of shoes or trousers and there was no possibility of having more than one unpaired sock. AFAIK M&S no longer sell plain green socks, presumably in an effort to force rational thinkers into buying more pairs when one goes missing. So the missing sock phenomenon is in fact planned obsolescence by corrupt capitalists.