Is Water Wet?


Talia Sonntag, Contributor

Is water wet? This question is being debated all over school and the internet. But first, what is water? According to Britannica, water is “a substance composed of the chemical elements hydrogen and oxygen and existing in gaseous, liquid, and solid states.” So basically, water is a molecule that can be in many different forms. The North High School student body had a lot to say about this debate. Over 150 students replied to the poll that was sent out. 69.4% thought that it was wet and 30.6% thought that it wasn’t.

Junior Omar Zaidan said, “Water cannot be wet. Being wet is a status given to describe something that is in water or when water is on its surface. Water itself cannot have the status of being wet because that only goes to things with water on it. Saying water has water on it doesn’t make sense.” A simpler explanation to this is “It makes things wet, it itself is not wet, water itself is not wet but makes things wet when it comes in contact with it,” as Freshman Reeve Lor expressed. 

There are students who believe that water is wet. RJ Lukas, a senior, said, “Water molecules by nature enjoy being with other water molecules because of how polar they are. So if people claim water touching something else makes it wet, then isn’t a water molecule touching another one wet by their own description?” 

So what do scientists have to say about this? Is water wet or not wet? According to, “Scientists have now shown that water does not start to behave like a liquid until at least six molecules form a cluster.” This shows that a single water molecule could not be wet, you need at least six molecules to make it wet. In conclusion, is water wet or not wet? That is still up to you to decide, but all the evidence seems to be pointing toward that water is not wet.