Why is water wet?

[Phileas]

So yesterday I went to a comedy gig and in one section the comedian asked people in the audience what stupid things their parents had told them that they had believed as kids. One guy said his parents had told him pingu spoke Norwegian and he believed it until he was 18. Another that the ice cream van only played a song when it was out of ice cream.

However, one of them was brilliant. A woman was told by her parents that only the surface of water is wet. When questioned as to how this explains baths she said that you get wet because your body passes through the wet surface of the water. It's a genius answer for a parent to give to an awkward question from a child.

Anyway, anyone got a way to disprove that only the surface of water is wet or explain what wetness is? (Chemistry provides an answer, but I thought it might produce some interesting discussion)

 

[AV1611VET]

Another that the ice cream van only played a song when it was out of ice cream.

-- Man, that was cruel!

 

[Cabal]

I'm guessing polarity of water, coupled with the sensation it produces when it interacts with the hair and oil on skin. Probably wouldn't feel it as much when entirely immersed in it.

 

[jayem]

Wetness is the sensation created by our brains when the tactile receptors in the skin receive certain stimuli. I'd think that a low coefficient of friction between the skin and the object touched is part what triggers a sensation of wetness. I'm sure a combination of other physical factors, like temperature, density, and motion are also involved.

 

[Cabal]

There is actually a concept of "wetness" that doesn't just involve the human sense of touch. I seem to recall one can describe the liquid in a capillary tube as wetting (e.g. water) or non-wetting (e.g mercury), which I think depends on whether the liquid is polar or not.

 

[juvenissun]

Wetness is the sensation created by our brains when the tactile receptors in the skin receive certain stimuli. I'd think that a low coefficient of friction between the skin and the object touched is part what triggers a sensation of wetness. I'm sure a combination of other physical factors, like temperature, density, and motion are also involved.

Are you wet when you dive in the water? You may not be wet according to your water-tight definition.

 

[AV1611VET]

Are you wet when you dive in the water?

That's gross!

Cryptosporidia

ETA: Oh, I'm sorry! You asked, 'Are you wet...'

I thought you said, 'And you wet...'

LOL -- I need to clean my glasses.

 

[Theofane]

There is actually a concept of "wetness" that doesn't just involve the human sense of touch. I seem to recall one can describe the liquid in a capillary tube as wetting (e.g. water) or non-wetting (e.g mercury), which I think depends on whether the liquid is polar or not.

I disagree. Wetness cannot exist if there is no human tactile sense to register it. It's just like how a tree falling in the forest is technically silent unless there is a human ear to register it.

 

[Theofane]

Were it not for the tactile sensation of being dry, we'd never know what wetness feels like.

 

[Jazer]

what wetness is?

I though something was either a liquid, solid or a gas (vapor).
Water of course could be all three.
Depending on the angle it hits the fan.

 

[rambot]

I disagree. Wetness cannot exist if there is no human tactile sense to register it. It's just like how a tree falling in the forest is technically silent unless there is a human ear to register it.

you can sEE something is wet without touching it.

 

[Cromulent]

you can sEE something is wet without touching it.

And a tree falling in a forest would still cause pressure waves to propagate through the ground and air, even if every human were dead.

 

[juvenissun]

That's gross!

Cryptosporidia

ETA: Oh, I'm sorry! You asked, 'Are you wet...'

I thought you said, 'And you wet...'

LOL -- I need to clean my glasses.

Hey, be scientific in this forum.

 

[Theofane]

you can sEE something is wet without touching it.

True, but sometimes the appearance of wetness is an optical illusion.

 

[Theofane]

And a tree falling in a forest would still cause pressure waves to propagate through the ground and air, even if every human were dead.

Those pressure waves would be theoretical pressure waves.

 

[Assyrian]

Those pressure waves would be theoretical pressure waves.

It was a hypothetical tree...

 

[AV1611VET]

Hey, be scientific in this forum.

-- Me???

Can a Panthera pardus transform his identification marks?

 

[Jazer]

And a tree falling in a forest

They use to tell me that when people grow up they go off to college and stay up late at night talking about things like trees and forests along with chickens and eggs. Then the religious people go off and have discussions about angels dancing on the head of a pin. Before you could graduate you had to have an opinion about those things.

Didn't Einstein say something about how the observer has an effect of some sort on what they are observing?

 

[AV1611VET]

Didn't Einstein say something about how the observer has an effect of some sort on what they are observing?

I think that was Hindenburg that said that.

 

[Cabal]

I disagree. Wetness cannot exist if there is no human tactile sense to register it. It's just like how a tree falling in the forest is technically silent unless there is a human ear to register it.

Nope. Capillary action has nothing to do with touch.