To answer this question we must first understand what wetness is. When we say something is wet we usually mean that it is coated or soaked with water. So what makes water 'stick', the answer is to be found at the molecular level.

Water, as every school child knows, is made up of Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms. Over thousands of years it trickles through rocks in the Earth's surface and on its journey, the Oxygen atoms pick up positively charge ions (mineral water manufacturers love to point this out as a health benefit).

In due course of time, the water reaches the surface where it evaporates to form clouds. This process causes the molecules to bump into each other, the energy from each collision is stored on the hydrogen atoms as a negative electrostatic charge.

Now, each molecule has a positive (Oxygen) and a negative (Hydrogen) end making them behave like tiny electromagnets. On a larger scale, imagine how iron filings behave near a magnet - they clump together. Well water molecules do the same but, being much smaller they are able to flow over each other.

Like ordinary magnets, they are attracted to anything with an opposite charge, like your skin for example. Incidentally, they are equally repelled by anything with a similar charge, which is why you can't mix oil and water.

Listen to ve!

Water Facts

• By the time it reaches your tap, your glass of water will have already passed through 6 other sets of kidneys.
• Each day, more water is used to make coffee in the USA than flows over Niagara Falls.
• The human body is made up of 92.3% water which, by coincidence is the same as a banana.
• No one has ever found anything more suitable than water for making a nice cup of tea.