Eli5 I’ve always wondered what makes water wet when it’s made up of h2o molecules.
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Water isn’t really “wet” in and of itself. Rather, water can *make other things wet*, which in turn means that its surface tension breaks easily and it will coat other materials, sticking to them.
Some liquids don’t wet materials when placed on them- mercury, for example. Or oils on a waxy surface, etc.
The term “wet” basically just means that liquid can break its surface tension and coat a material, and it applies more to the material than the liquid.
But since the most common liquid we deal with as humans in our day-to-day lives by far is water and water-based liquids, the term has become very closely associated with the liquid itself instead of its action.
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