You have to wipe the last bit of water off pretty much everything, how does the last bit of water stick to most surfaces?
In: Chemistry
It comes down to whether your cleaning item can absorb or wipe all of the water. But since it sounds like you’re talking about absorption, you’re looking at a scenario where the thing you’re using to “wipe down” your surface has run out of usable wicking material. In my experience, a cheap paper towel or napkin can barely hold water, but a cheap cloth towel isn’t much better. The “optimal” tool (without getting into expensive solutions) is a decently-made microfiber towel. A hand-towel size microfiber cloth is usually able to wipe and dry off a table for 4-6 people. But you should also note that microfiber towels need to be washed in a very specific way to keep them in good working condition.
But there are other factors, too. Sometimes, a surface that looks clean actually has a film of dirty stuff that clings both to water and to the surface, which will require a cleaning agent like a degreaser or a detergent to break up. Or sometimes, the surface can be made of a material that attracts water or have a texture that can “hide” water from your absorbing tool. In some cases, too (if have the right conditions), a wiping tool could create just enough static in a surface that attracts water, which would then push up the absorbency you need to draw up all of the water on the surface
Water molecules are one large oxygen atom and two tiny hydrogen atoms. They’re stuck together like a Non-public-domain Mickey Mouse head, with both hydrogen atoms on one end and the big oxygen on the other.
The oxygen atom pulls all the electrons towards itself, making Mickey’s chin negatively charged and his ears positively charged.
So now they’re all tiny little molecular magnets, and they stick to all sorts of things. Surfaces. Eachother. Salt ions. This property makes water a very “sticky” molecule and a powerful solvent.
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