Water...Wet?

[SerengetiLion]

Someone I work with told me that water is not wet. If this is true that's the simplest way to fully understand this?

 

[Sensei]

Water is polar solvent. Polar liquid has non-uniformly distributed charges e.g. protons and electrons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_polarity

Because of this property, water molecule can attach to other water molecules and other polar liquids, or other charged particles.

[koti]

18 minutes ago, SerengetiLion said:

Someone I work with told me that water is not wet. If this is true that's the simplest way to fully understand this?

 

The simplest way would be in my opinion asking this guy to tell you what he's talking about.

[SerengetiLion]

Well, lol I google searched it and the results pretty much gave truth to this. Water isn't wet until it comes in contact with something else. I just can't wrap my head around that..

[koti]

1 minute ago, SerengetiLion said:

Well, lol I google searched it and the results pretty much gave truth to this. Water isn't wet until it comes in contact with something else. I just can't wrap my head around that..

Water is a chemical which has its structure, properties and it interacts with other chemicals in certain ways. "Wet" is a word in the English language which refers to properties which water and other chemicals in liquid state have. Water when frozen is not wet, is steel wet when heated up and liquified? Its only semantics thats why it would be best to ask the guy what hes talking about.

[iNow]

Wet is a description, a property label we assign to a surface.

Water is a substance that sometimes makes surfaces wet, but is not itself accurately described as the property of wetness. 

One is a description, the other is a molecule. 

[Intrigued]

Summarising and adding:

Wetness relates to the interaction of fluids and surfaces. For example, if a surface is preferentially water wet a water drop will spread out on the surface.It's contact angle will greater than 90 degrees. If it is not preferentially water wet the drop will tend to remain as a drop and the contact angle will be less than 90 degrees. In the latter case the strength of any attraction between surface and water is less than the surface tension.

[StringJunky]

I would put it this way: If the water has lost its surface tension then the surface it is on is said to be 'wet' because it is spread out over the surface but if the water beads discretely whereby it retains its surface tension that surface is not wet. The wetness is a function of its surface tension and whether it is there or not..

[studiot]

2 hours ago, koti said:

2 hours ago, SerengetiLion said:

Someone I work with told me that water is not wet. If this is true that's the simplest way to fully understand this?

 

The simplest way would be in my opinion asking this guy to tell you what he's talking about.

 

I agree the question is too vague as it stands. +1

 

'Wet' as a technical term means the liquid spread irrreversibly as a surface layer over some surface.

So for instance beads of mercury will stand on glass and be moved bodily along, leaving no residue behind.
Mercury does not wet glass.

Water on the other hand may form beads but these will be smeared out when one tries to move them.

Water wets glass.

But water does not wet water. Water is miscible with water.

Beware the idea that wetting is to do with polar or non polar liquids.

Water is a polar liquid.

Oil is a non polar liquid, which smears out readily and coats a sheet of glass.

 

The description 'wetting the glass' is using the verb to describe the process.

You respondent may be talking about something quite different however in respect of water.

google 'wetting and flocculation' for more details.

But best, as Koti said, was to ask what he was on about.