The value of diapers lies in their ability to trap liquids that they contact. To absorb and not relinquish what is absorbed is the true test of a diaper's sanitary utility.

The ingredient that gives diapers their super absorbing abilities is a product of the chemical industry: sodium polyacrylate.

Dry sodium polyacrylate when mixed with water becomes a gel-like entity; hydrogen bonding between water and the polymer allows sodium polyacrylate to trap eight-hundred times its weight in distilled water.

Compare [local] the absorbency of a disposable diaper to cotton dish towels.