So we all know how car tires are less grippy when it’s wet.
But why is it better to use water or saliva on my fingers when trying to open a plastic bag, or quickly turn paper pages over?
And why does applying washing soap/shower gel to my slippery yoga mat make it grippy again?
Does this means car tires would be grippier on a soapy surface? Is so do they apply this principle in (for example) motorsports?
Thanks in advance folks!
In: 3
Your initial statement is not entirely true:
There are 2 aspects related to water and tire grip:
* Water can act as a lubricant, it will make things slippery.
* Water can prevent adhesion (stickyness), it will make is less grippy, but not slippery.
Tires on a wet road, only prevent adhesion compared to a dry road. Adhesion only plays a very small role in the grippyness of a tire and in normal circumstances there is no real difference in grip.
However, if the road is in a bad condition and a small amount of water remains standing pooled, your tire needs to channel that water out of the way.If the circumstances don’t allow this (bad tires, driving too fast, …) you will end up with aquaplaning, which is basically when your tire no longer touches the road, but has a small layer of water in between. In that case the water is acting a a lubricant and it is very slippery.
In relation to why water sometimes increases grip, the assumtion is also not entirely correct as already explained in other comments: It is not about the water itself, but the effect it has in the given ciscumstances.
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