Is Water Wet?

[SSgt (Ret) Herrick]

[MSgt Van Dyke]

oh jeez, here we go AGAIN

[Guest]

Water is not saturated with water, water is water. In order for an object to be saturated with something it must not be that object, bricks are not saturated with 'bricktitude.'

 

Wet is a state of being covered with water. Water cannot cover water as both are water, they become one object.

 

Ergo, Water is not wet.

[MSgt (Ret) Bingham]

no

[Cpl (Ret) VandeVord]

We never get wet from water because it is a false sensory perception.

"Why is that Cpl VandeVord?"

 

[Osbourne]

Ok, first of all we need to understand what “wet” means. Wetting is a physical attribute of molecules, it depends on intermolecular forces and the physical (or geometrical) structure of the molecule.

 

When a water droplet is in contact with a surface, there are several factors that determine if the surface is wet or not. If the surface tension is broken, then the surface will be wet, as there is no force that keeps the initial droplet structure bound together.

 

Another factor that affects the wetting is how the fluid interacts with the surface. Is it a liquid-solid interaction? A liquid-liquid interaction? Intermolecular forces such as adhesion and cohesion determine the level of interaction between them. This is why the mercury inside a thermometer moves so smoothly, because the amount of cohesion (the force that links all the atoms of Hg together) is more than the amount of adhesion (what keeps the Hg bound to the capilar).

 

In a liquid-liquid interaction, such as water by itself, we can say that water is not wet, as molecules are all bound together and not wetting one another. In a liquid-solid interaction, like your finger touching water, the water will wet your finger, but won’t wet the other molecules of water.