Why do our fingertips become wrinkled under water.
When the cells in our hands and feet are in contact with water the amount of water in the cells is much less than in the surrounding environment so by the process of osmosis, the water will diffuse into the cells. The cells cannot hold this much water and they begin to buckle or wrinkle. So our fingers are not really shriveled, but are actually filled with an excess of water. This does not happen to the rest of our body because it is covered by a wax like layer called keratin. The keratin gets worn away on our hands and feet allowing the water into the cells.