ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Polywater

Polywater is a type of water that was once thought to be special and unique. It was discovered in the 1960s by a scientist named Boris Deryagin. At first, scientists believed that polywater was a super-strong version of water that had amazing properties, like being able to climb up walls or flow through tiny spaces without any resistance. But as they did more research, they realized that polywater wasn't actually a different type of water at all.

Instead, they found that polywater was just regular water that had been contaminated with certain chemicals or impurities. These contaminants caused the water molecules to stick together more tightly than normal, which made the water thicker and more viscous.

Even though scientists eventually realized that polywater wasn't anything special or unique, the discovery of it was still important. It helped scientists learn more about the properties of water and how it behaves under different conditions. Today, we know that regular water is just fine for most purposes, and there's no need to search for a special type of water like polywater.
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