The surface tension of water explains why the water does not drain out of a wet sand castle or a moist ball of clay. Negative water pressures make the water stick to the particles and pull the particles to each other, friction at the particle contacts make a sand castle stable. But as soon as a wet sand castle is submerged below a free water surface, the negative pressures are lost and the castle collapses. Considering the effective stress equation, formula_94, if the water pressure is negative, the effective stress may be positive, even on a free surface (a surface where the total normal stress is zero). The negative pore pressure pulls the particles together and causes compressive particle to particle contact forces.