• Question: Why are things like water tasteless? Or do they have a tast which we can't tastee?

    Asked by lisaloo to Claire, Matt, Rob, Sam on 26 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Robert Woolfson

      Robert Woolfson answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Pure water, H2O, doesn’t actually bind to any of the parts of our tongue that detect taste (the taste receptors). However, if there’s anything other than H2O in the water, then it probably will. It’s minerals, hydrogen, sodium, and other such compounds that make some water hard, other water soft and give water from different areas different tastes.

    • Photo: Claire Lee

      Claire Lee answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      I can definitely taste the difference between different types of bottled water (I drink a lot of water so I guess I am a bit of an expert in it). But as Rob says it has to do with what minerals and salts are in the water, rather than the water itself.

      I probably wouldn’t actually like pure H2O!

Comments