Why is water wet and fire hot?
Why is water wet?
Chemically speaking saying that water is wet has not much sense.We could, however, say that &quot;Wetting process&quot; is caused by the presence of a thin liquid particles layer over a material. In our specific case, this depends on the chemistry of water and the chemistry of skin. So the main causes of the fact that water is wet, is its wetting properties determined by a force balance between adhesive and cohesive forces over the skin. Mercury, although is a liquid, will not &quot;wet&quot; you because it has a strong cohesive force that doesn't permit the molecules to get in touch with the sensory cells.  When you touch water or a water wetted material part of the water molecules are transfer to your hands (a hydrophilic material) and so to the receptor cells giving the sensation of wet, this sensation can be caused however in some case of parasthesias even if there are no liquid particles. In fact, there is no &quot;wet receptor&quot; on your skin but the sensation is due to the elaboration of different stimuli from tactile, pressure and temperature receptor present in your skin.
Try to play with plasticine after a while handling it your hands will become hydrophobic you will no more fell the wet sensation when you wash them even if water is still &quot;wet&quot;!
What causes fire to be hot as an inherent property?
Fire is an exothermic process. So energy stored in a chemical bond is released as kinetic energy and electromagnetic wave. The fire has a high temperature because the molecules have great kinetic energies when you get in touch with fire (of course wormed air could be a medium as well for short distance) this kinetic energy is transfer to your skin and so to your thermoreceptors . And you feel what human call hot. In fact, you can feel the sensation of hot even without touching the fire because it even irradiates energy as electromagnetic waves that can be absorbed by your skin and so be feel for his receptors.