Why do cloths and foams absorb water, but metals and plastics don’t?

Question

Why do cloths and foams absorb water, but metals and plastics don’t?

In: Other

Answer 1

Clothes and foams (specifically, open celled foams) have tons of tiny interoconnecteced passages/spaces inside them that the water can move into. They’re called “interstitial passages”, like a sponge but with smaller holes.

Metals and plastics, unless they’re intentionally designed that way, are solid without any meaningfully large holes. There’s nowhere for the water to go.