Water is Wet–Soaking, Sopping, Wet

Ashley Ivanoff, Perspectives Editor

Imagine, a fish underwater, swimming in the sea, then, all the sudden, he takes a bite and is pulled from the water in which he lived. Now, holding that writhing fish in your hands, he’s sopping wet. So, wouldn’t he still be wet while he’s in the water?

The debate may have begun to die out but, here, we still debate.

Water is wet and even though it may not be a popular opinion, I’m sticking with it. However, I’m not alone. 49 percent of voters on Debate.org believe that water is wet and they each have their own reasons why.

One voter said, “The word ‘wet’ means saturated, covered or surrounded by another liquid. Because water can be separated into individual H2O molecules each one is surrounded by another one and that makes them wet because they are all surrounded/covered by another liquid–although an individual H2O molecule is not wet.”

On that note, let’s return to that fish, as he swims along he is ‘saturated’ in water, making him wet. Many people argue that water can only make other things wet by surrounding them, doesn’t that mean that the water molecules are wet. They are, by definition, surrounded by water?

Water can’t make things wet if it’s not wet itself. While some people argue, wet is just a feeling and water is wet when we touch it, doesn’t that mean that it is wet even when we aren’t feeling it? I mean people don’t constantly need to be feeling sad for the feeling to exist and still be prevalent.

On the same note, one Planet-science writer said, “Saying water is wet is like saying that wood is hard or fire is hot.” It’s just common sense. I mean, if water isn’t wet, what is it?