• Stamets@lemmy.worldOP
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    4 days ago

    But that’s not the definition of wet. Wet is something having liquid adhere to it, usually water. It’s a gained quality. Water doesn’t adhere to itself, it can’t gain the quality of being wet because it is the thing that gives that quality. It’s like saying that fire is burnt. It does the burning.

    • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      Actually fire is the byproduct of a chemical reaction. The material being combusted is the one doing the burning. Fire (rather, extreme heat) can cause combustion in other materials, given an oxygen rich environment, but the fire is not itself doing the combustion or burning.

      Wetness is not a chemical reaction, so it’s kind of an apples to oranges comparison.

    • Oni_eyes@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      Water is cohesive which means yes, it does attach to itself. It’s one of the main reasons capillary action works and your blood flows the way it does.

        • Oni_eyes@sh.itjust.works
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          4 days ago

          Since heat is thermal energy, it can transfer this thermal energy but it loses some due to the second law of thermodynamics. Water doesn’t lose the ability to adhere to other things when it transfers, so the two phenomenon are not really equateable.

          • Brainsploosh@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            You are conflating semantics with physics.

            In physics, the definition of wet is widely “that which water adheres to” and excludes water, as other definitions typically lack utility. End of discussion, at least until you define a context where some other definition is more useful and also coherent with the discourse.

            Also, heat does not lose thermal energy - energy cannot be destroyed, the 2nd law applies only to states - not energy, and pedantically: heat is the transfer of thermal energy, so heat is still heat regardless of amount of thermal energy.

            • Oni_eyes@sh.itjust.works
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              4 days ago

              Fair enough, heat can’t lose heat. However when it interacts with a substance some of the energy is “lost” in that it transfers to the substance. Unless it is a completely inert material.

              Can you hold a unit of heat? Or do you hold a substance that is imbued with heat energy? Seems like a good reason to say the two are not equateable, which was the main point.

              Other than that, a specific fields definition of wet does not make the term exclusive to that field. In aquatic science, wet still means something that water is adhering to. Water adheres to itself so water is wet.

    • HeuristicAlgorithm9@feddit.uk
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      4 days ago

      wet
      1 of 3
      adjective
      ˈwet
      wetter; wettest
      Synonyms of wet
      1
      a
      : consisting of, containing, covered with, or soaked with liquid (such as water)

      Water definitely consists of water my man

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        Maybe by your definition, but have you considered that the definitions that I like are the objectively correct ones?

        /s shouldn’t be necessary but this is the internet