Things that I have conluded in my 30 years of intellectual research....

[madhatter256]

da heq?

[Meridian]

But in a strictly scientific sense, "wet" means liquid.

Strictly, only a liquid can be wet, but not all liquids are wet - mercury is not, for example. It's the short description of a property of liquids describing how they interact with clean solids. If the surface layer is attracted more to the solid it is in contact with than to itself, then it wet (a meniscus curves up), if it has strongly attraction to itself (meniscus curves down) then it is not wet. So yes, water is wet.


M

[JustinC939]

^^^^Mercury is not wet because the meniscus curves down? What are you? some kind of anarchist fascist nazi?

[3dfxrain]

I don't think so.

[Keven]

I don't think so.

You started it, but I'll finish it.

[Activate: AMD]

Strictly, only a liquid can be wet, but not all liquids are wet - mercury is not, for example. It's the short description of a property of liquids describing how they interact with clean solids. If the surface layer is attracted more to the solid it is in contact with than to itself, then it wet (a meniscus curves up), if it has strongly attraction to itself (meniscus curves down) then it is not wet. So yes, water is wet.


M

Sort of. In the context of things like hard surface cleaners, we generally use the term "wetting" to refer to the ability of water to spread over a surface. A surface can be "wetted" better when the contact angle of water droplets is lower, which can be accomplished by including things like surfactants. Alternatively, you can increase the contact angle through treatments that renders the surface hydrophobic so the water beads up on it. Fluorination is the classic one, and the basis for Scotchgard.

so in conclusion, water is not "wet". wetness is a function of the interaction between the liquid and the surface that is being contacted