Why is there no taste to water?

Baloo55th

Taste is determined by the reaction of certain sensors on the tongue (taste buds). Sweet, salty, sour, and bitter are the four most commonly described, but I believe there is something else as well (can't remember what). Distilled water doesn't set any of these off, and so 'tastes' flat and dull. Probable origins of these areas lie in survival necessities. Sweet indicates food with high energy content (honey and so on), but beware - some lead compounds taste sweet and are highly poisonous. They wouldn't have been around in the environment where taste buds evolved, though. Salt is essential (in the right quantity), and bitter can indicate poison as many poisons are bitter tasting. Tastes of most things are combinations of these four areas. Variations of taste occur, too. Aspartame is used as a sweetener, but I avoid it because to me it gives things a thin, bitter taste. Jul 30 06, 1:42 PM

zbeckabee

At room temperature, it is a nearly colorless, tasteless, and odorless liquid. It is often referred to in the sciences as the only pure substance found naturally in all three states of matter. Beyond that, taste is derived from whatever chemicals or minerals that may have been added to it. http://dictionary.babylon.com/H2O Jul 31 06, 8:03 AM

Philipper

This question was asked by my biology teacher in college and he indicated that the answer I gave was correct. The specialized tissue that evolved in our bodies to detect tastes contain so much molecular water that if the taste sensing mechanism reacted to water, the taste sensation of water would be never ending, and become unnoticable. Water containing more salt than the water in our tasting tissues contains, does taste salty, and water containing a lesser percentage of salt "tastes" flat. He said that percentage was equivalent to about 1 teaspoon of non-iodized salt dissolved in 16 ounces of distilled water. Oct 15 07, 4:32 PM