No question, water is wet

By Zach Cottam | Senior Reporter

Certain questions have plagued human existence since the dawn of time: What’s at the bottom of the ocean? Why are we here? Is there life on Mars? And most importantly, which came first, the chicken or the egg? These questions seem to have no end, as scientific discovery keeps pushing towards answers, and yet only opens up more questions. One question that has arised in the past few years is one that scientists have spent sleepless nights pondering: Is water wet?

Water, the most important resource on the planet, is used for everything in day-to-day life such as drinking, showering, cleaning, cooking, exercise, and even as a weapon most young kids use to terrorize each other and their parents. Yet it seems as if the human race takes it for granted. Everyone knows water is essential to life, it falls from the sky, and that it is made up of two Hydrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom. But beyond that, the average human strays away from the specifics of the liquid, until now.

Today, you will finally find the answer you’ve been looking for, with scientific proof and logical reasoning that would Socrates proud. Let’s dive in.

Water is wet. There it is, the bombshell. The dictionary definition of “wet” is “covered or saturated with water or another liquid.” Rather than looking at water as a collection of molecules, in order to fully understand, we must look at water as individual Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms. These molecules are surrounded by, or covered by, more molecules of Hydrogen and Oxygen. Based on this simple explanation, water already matches the definition: water covers more water, ergo making the latter water wet.

Next, let’s look at it from a logical standpoint. In order for something to alter a different object, it must hold the characteristics of which it is altering. For instance, in order for something to be heated up, it must be held against a fire or electrical current, both of which hold high levels of kinetic energy and temperature. In order to color a piece of white printer paper red, you must use some sort of red object to do so. With this logic, in order to make another object wet, water itself must be wet.

Of course, this isn’t concrete. No scientists have proved this, and in fact, several are in debate over whether or not water is wet. This is as solid of proof as is available at this time. Maybe in the upcoming months, this data will be contradicted, but for now the fact stands: water is wet.