Is it possibel for something to be 100 percent dry?

Question

Please give me a scientific answer. For example ,Like with wood, can it be 100 percent dry, if it can not be , why not. If it is 100 percent dry then what is it called? Cant be called wood

Answer 1

That depends on your definition of dry. With enough work, you could probably get wood completely free of 'free' water. That is, water that is not part of any other molecule. However, wood is mostly cellulose, C6H10O5, which is 6 carbon atoms bonded with 5 water molecules. If you burn pure cellulose, you have literally nothing left. I'm sure it's possible to have many other materials, like diamond and metals, completely free of water.

The name for a material (like ammonia) which is normally hydrated but is in a form which is not hydrated, is anhydrous.

Answer 2

Well, I suppose the most technical term for dry wood would be ash or soot.

Of course, I take your meaning of "dry" to mean "something that is 100% dry has absolutely not water on it or in it."

Yes this is indeed possible. However, you must remember that there is a great deal of moisture in our atmosphere and everything in it while subjected to normal conditions is essentially "wet."

Also remember that all plants (trees included) have a substantial amount of water within them due to the passage of water through xylem and phloem (these are transport tubes in plants, similar to the veins and arteries in humans). So, wood in the process of combustion (burning) would be the closest you could get to 100% dry wood because all of the water would be evaporated or would be in the process of evaporating.

Other things that are 100% dry would also have to be at higher temperatures so that all of the water on or in the things could evaporate. Additionally, there are many fluids and other liquids that contain no water and are "100% dry."

Answer 3

Dry simply means the absense of water.

Unfortunately, water is the second most common molecule in the universe. We find lots of it in the outer planets, in commets, in the atmosphere of all inner planets, most of the outer moons, etc. It is also extremely abundant on earth. There are few chemical, biological, or industrial processes which to not have some water. You find water trapped in rocks, you find it in the atmosphere, you obviously find it in the oceans.

I suppose there might be some lab experiment which makes some gas or something without any water molecules in it, but almost any 'normal' process on Earth still has water in it. Wood would almost certainly never be 100% free of a water molecule. Even if it fossilized, some speck of water (or bit of atmosphere containing water) is going to get trapped inside it.

However, there is obviously a point at which 99.9999% of something does not have water in it. A diamond for example, likely only contains microscopic traces of the water molecule. For real-world purposes one could say it is 100 percent dry.

Answer 4

Something that is absolutely free of water is said to be anhydrous.

I would guess that wood cannot be completely anhydrous because part of the structure of the wood is water.

Answer 5

well technically its possible. if you got rid of every H20 molecule (or any liquid molecule) then it would be 100% dry. if there is one molecule of liquid in it it would be like 99.9999999(etc, etc) % dry. since its impossible to get all of the liquid out of something im pretty satisfied with 99% dry.