If water had no polarity, life as we know it could not exist, so the mess in your apt would be the least of your troubles
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
944 points (100.0% liked)
196
16394 readers
2168 users here now
Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.
Rule: You must post before you leave.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
we probably would have no troubles at all
i wonder how many actors they went through to film that commercial.
A two micrometer thick layer of water would evaporate nearly instantaneously, I’d think.
Without surface tension, water would evaporate much faster in general. Probably could set out a cup of water in the morning and it would be gone by bedtime.
Nestlé liked this comment
Your own body would basically be a fog cloud of evaporation all day until you were dehydrated like a skeleton in a salt flat, which is exactly what you would be, since no life anywhere could exist.
Especially if there were weaker intermolecular forces (which normally give it surface tension).
You could even mop it up by placing the mop in the middle of the room and just wait.
If there were no surface tension there would almost definitely be no wicking action either. If it didn't evaporate super quickly, water without surface tension would probably be a giant pain in the ass to clean up.
Surface tension and surface energy are related but different. The surface energy of the interface between water and air causes surface tension. The surface energy of the interface between water and mop fibers causes wicking.
If y'all have worked with silicone oil, yea it works kinda like this (depending on viscosity).
It creeps up out of containers, it creeps up walls. It gets everywhere.
nods like sand
I swear that shit must have negative surface tension with how much it gets everywhere
Look at this guy bragging about his level floors. Smh
Hmm i think that would actually be better as the water where basically non existent caus it's so spread out. It would just instantly evaporate no?
Basic gas mechanics or whatever that's called is now out the window. You are breathing raccoon pee.
Yum
Well this post was only about water
If water didn't have surface tension, none of us would exist 😹
yes plz
Doesn't alcohol (like isopropol) have like zero surface tension? I know it evaporates super fast which is one of the factors that makes it a good cleaning agent.
That's actually exactly why it's a bad cleaning agent, at least for sterilization purposes. It evaporates before it can kill any microbes.
Yeah if you're using high percentage isopropanol it's less effective. I think the current recommendation is 70% for sterilization purposes as it remains in contact longer. Higher percentages is more for its use as a solvent or cleaning electronics.
I thought the 70% was recommended because it helps maintain membrane fluidity or something like that
Yeah or something with hydrophilic properties with the water help destroy microbes. I love reading about chemistry but keep forgetting.
This is almost completely unrelated, but your comment made me think of it for some reason, so story time:
Years ago, I worked at a gas station on the night shift. We had these huge wall mounted containers of cleaning supplies, like soap dispensers in a rest room, but like 30 gallons/100 liters, and full of various cleaning supplies that a company came by every so often and swapped the empties for full ones. There were like 5 of em, for use in cleaning different stuff.
One day, they came and swapped em out, and no one noticed that they'd all been replaced with rubbing alcohol until it was already after end of day for the delivery company. It took weeks before we could get them to come back out, and for several weeks I had to mop the floors and clean the whole store with diluted alcohol. It was sparkling clean, but good GOD the head rush. I had to leave the doors open and blast the AC whenever we were cleaning.
Oh my god I think I would vomit
It was pretty rough. We got a lot of complaints
Thank god toddler pee has surface tension.
I just spilled my water bottle while in a tent and it feels much more like the latter in this example
I don't like smart meatwad. He's giving me existential dread.
This is sending my brain down a rabbit hole I don't want to explore.
On the flip side if you drop a glass of water it will almost instantly evaporate.
If that was how it worked it would also happen if you spilt oil or liquid soap or soapy water
It would also evaporate pretty much instantly
There’s also viscosity, adhesion
Petrol is kindve like this but it evaporates so quickly. What weighs less than petrol? Is the rate something evaporates related to the weight?
The rate at which something evaporates is determined by their atoms bond strength, weight has less importance. The reason petrol evaporates fast (and melts and boils at low temperatures) is because they only have London forces, which is the weakest weak bond.
I had never heard of London forces—named after a German! Thanks Dave2!
So YOU took Dave!! We'll duel for it, at noon, be by the three pronged cactus. (You're welcome tho)
Your request for a duel is held in a queue and will be answered as soon as I’ve dealt with my colleague who inconsiderately has the same initials as me.
Good luck then, wouldn't want you get killed by anyone else...
If you want to test it you could just seal your room, tape the windows and doors and keyholes, then let enough petrol evaporate until the air is saturated. Then you can test spilling it on the floor without fear of evaporation!
Id love nothing more than to be sealed in a 100% condensed petrol air room haha