how wet is water?

Answer 1

Sonia M is on to something.

Technically "wetting" is a way of expressing how much affinity a liquid has for a particular surface. Sonia is correct that this is measured by measuring the contact angle. The effect is related to the minimum surface energy of the system. A liquid that is compatible with the surface will "wet" it, which means that the liquid will spread out on the surface and form a low contact angle.

Wetting is a function of the molecular structure of both the liquid and the surface, so that means that the "wetness" of water depends upon the surface you put it on.

Water is a polar molecule, meaning that it has a slight separation of electric charge due to it's geometry. That has a strong effect on the things that it will wet. Many organic materials such as plastics, greases, oils and fuels are non-polar, meaning there is no separated electrical charge in the molecule.

Polar and non-polar materials are not compatible. That is why water beads up on a greasy surface.

There are some materials that have both polar and non-polar parts on the same molecule. Soap molecules have that property. So if you add a little bit of soap to water, the non-polar part of the soap molecule will wet greasy surfaces and the water can wet the polar part of the molecule. Basically that is what allows soap to clean things. Adding soap to water allows it to wet more substances in that way, which is why soaps are sometimes called wetting agents.

Water is pretty wet in that it will wet any polar surface, but it will not wet non-polar surfaces without some help from a wetting agent.

Soapy water is quite a bit wetter than pure water.

There are some liquids with this polar / non-polar quality such as liquid detergents, alcohols, acetone, etc. Many of these materials can wet more different kinds of surfaces than water and so would rightly be considered wetter.

Answer 2

Is "wet" a technical term? You cannot define wet!!!!

Moms never say "Oh! Honey, you are 37% wet today. Why did you go out in the rain" nor will they say "Oh! Honey, you are 100% wet. Why did you jump in the swimming pool".

They will say "Honey, you are wet...."

So, there is no scientific way to define "Wet".

Anyway, just for the shake of answering water is only 100%.

Answer 3

You can measure how water wets a surface by measuring the contact angle of the drop with the surface.

Answer 4

Not that wet actually. It beads up too easily due to high surface tension. Adding soap or detergent lowers the surface tension and increases it's ability to "wet" surfaces. Other liquids, like alcohol and gasoline, are much wetter than water, beading up much less due to lower surface tension.

Answer 5

very wet ... and awfully moist

By the way - it takes 6 molecules of water to form a droplet ... that should take into account wetness by volume and surface area contact!

Answer 6

Well, It's 100% humidity. Otherwise the only possible answer would be really wet.

Answer 7

Somewhere in the ball park of 100% wet, I'd say...

Answer 8

Wetter than an old, dried up, mouldy biscuit buried in an old metal, airtight box, in the ground about 400 years ago,dug up by a dead, dry insect and powdered into paste with a very dry food proccessor and buried again in a plastic, dry, airtight box.

Answer 9

Not as wet as a lower viscosity liquid :-P

Answer 10

Uh.... its pretty wet dude