The importance of Water to the Cosmere

[Epicdaf]

I was just reading a post regarding the nature of Harmonium or Ettmetal

It talks about it's volatitly due to it's spiritual nature, and it got me thinking. This isn't the first time we see a form of Investiture reacting to water. 
So far we have these examples:
1) Ettmetal + water = Boom!
2) Black Sand from Taldain + water = Sandmastery

3)Aether spores + water = various results depending on the spore

4)Aether bound with Luhel Bond + Water = various results depending on the bonded Aethers. 

5) Water + Terkin = Destroyed Terkin

Are there any other such examples?

I wonder what other plans Brandon has with water in the Cosmere. There seems to be an intersting story behind it as with Aluminium and Silver. 

Leave your thoughts below. Let's theorize!
 

[Duxredux he/him]

So... Terkin is not exactly a big ol' monster thing, it's a class of Taldain sandlings with a carapace that disrupts Sand Mastery.

As it is, water is probably as important to the Cosmere as it is to IRL, considering it's foundational to sustaining life on the planet. The nature of water as a polar molecule (meaning that one end has a slightly negative charge while the other end has a slight positive charge) with the slightly greater attraction from hydrogen bonding has a tremendous impact on the planet. That increased cohesion that pulls water together due to it being attracted to itself means that it takes more energy to heat water than most other substances - which is one major reason why our planet stays within a relatively narrow band of temperature aside from the poles. This cohesion allows for capillary action, the polarity from the hydrogen bonding producing the odd quirk where unlike most materials, water expands as it changes states to a solid - growing less dense. This is weird in the material world, and contributes to our lakes and oceans not freezing from the bottom up, the ice sunk far below the sun's rays. This polarity is also what lets it dissolve so many substances it has the moniker "universal solvent". It's not for nothing that the human body is made up of what, 60-70% of the stuff? It might actually be weirder if water wasn't special.

I can't remember seeing many WoBs on the subject (not saying that they aren't), but let's look at your list.

1.

Harmonium has been described as a "super cesium" reacting similar to the alkali metals. These IRL metals, sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and francium, sit where they are on the periodic table as group 1 elements because they have one electron over a complete shell - which makes it very easy for this electron to be donated. When cesium donates an electron to water, it reacts by releasing a considerable amount of energy as the elements drop to very stable ionic bonds. No idea if Harmonium is in a similar state and has atoms and electrons, or if the polarity of water is enough to begin the division process of the poorly melded powers of Ruin and Preservation. 

2-4

This might all have to do with the Luhel bond, where physical matter is transferred in exchange for manipulation over the Aether. We've had several people speculate that the "bone Aether" on Lumar is actually Taldain sand. 

5.

As for terken dissolving in water, I suspect the actual answer may be pretty mundane. My current hypothesis is that terken sandlings adapted to utilize naturally occurring aluminum hydroxide (often found in bauxite deposits) to reinforce their gas-based circulatory system in a similar way to how we use aluminum to improve the lifespan of mylar helium balloons. Resistance to Sand Mastery is just an added bonus. Aluminum hydroxide is water soluble which might explain why terken carapace can be dissolved and the resulting coating still disrupts Sand Mastery - there's aluminum in there. In this case, I think it might just be that water is a universal solvent and doesn't play nice with the biology of the half-desert planet. On our side, aluminum generally doesn't play well with earth's biology, so most Cosmere planets that have IRL animals won't have this interaction. Maybe most water based animals actually.

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

15 minutes ago, Epicdaf said:

I was just reading a post regarding the nature of Harmonium or Ettmetal

It talks about it's volatitly due to it's spiritual nature, and it got me thinking. This isn't the first time we see a form of Investiture reacting to water. 
So far we have these examples:
1) Ettmetal + water = Boom!
2) Black Sand from Taldain + water = Sandmastery

3)Aether spores + water = various results depending on the spore

4)Aether bound with Luhel Bond + Water = various results depending on the bonded Aethers. 

5) Water + Terkin = Destroyed Terkin

Are there any other such examples?

I wonder what other plans Brandon has with water in the Cosmere. There seems to be an intersting story behind it as with Aluminium and Silver. 

Leave your thoughts below. Let's theorize!
 

What is Terkin?

[ShatteredDiamond She/Her]

5 minutes ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

What is Terkin?

Terkin is a big ol' monster thing that lives in the deep sand on Taldain

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

34 minutes ago, ShatteredDiamond said:

Terkin is a big ol' monster thing that lives in the deep sand on Taldain

Oooooooh. Okay.