Reaction of electrical cables on contact with water

It is always very disheartening to see the damage caused by water to cables carrying voltage. In my experience, they're usually caused by the following:

1) Overzealous Office Cleaner who has shares in the Water Board
The Office Cleaner, in an effort to be as efficient as possbile, will in all sense, mop the floor. This is due to their believe that for a tiled floor, the most efficient dirt picker upper would be a wet mop. A very very wet mop, that is. It is in their unwritten rule that, where a vacuum cleaner is ineffective, the wet mop would be the best alternative. Its wet strands would attract all the dirt and what-nots in its wake. Maybe, it could all have been started with someone driving a car fitted with a K&N Filter. The same principle applies as you do not clean the filter but oil it. So, water, the best alternative, is cheaper for them.

And slipping on a wet floor and with your butt making a long streak is more fun than tripping over a vacuum cleaner. Don't believe me? Imagine someone stepping gingerly, trying to avoid the mop's path as if they're on a land mine, only to slip and fall at the last step. Besides, anyone can avoid a vacuum cleaner and its moving power cable. Its just that after a few times, your legs will know how to clear them. Your butt will remind you if you fail.

2) The Clumsy Goof
This is what you call those people who cannot avoid the wrath of the Wet Mop. In many cases, there is a high chance that they would topple over the mop's container which would then release all the dirt/hair/crap and most importantly, water all over the floor. You can easily spot the Clumsy Goof by way they walk. Or, the red wet slap marks on their faces or in some cases mops on their head.

3) The air-con above
How this happens, I do not know but this is a very special category. Because in order for this to happen, it would need a lot of people to make it work. In essense, Teamwork. For example, you need the Architect to design the room, the Draughtsman to do up the plan, other contractors to "book" all the walls with their equipment and lastly, the aircon man who thinks its alright to place it exactly on top of everything else. And so, after a few years and if you're lucky, months or weeks, the aircon will leak. And when it leaks, it will leak onto the most critical item in the room. or wires, whichever is more expensive to replace.

Anyway, I got bored in the office and decided to
try a little bit of experimenting to see how such
damage can be so disastrous. Here, I am using a
CCTV camera's power connector which I dipped
into the water and powered it up. The greenish
thing started to appear after five minutes.

After 15 minutes, there are more of those little
dark green stuff. Well, this is a good sign as we
can take this as an indication of roughly how
long it takes to create such damage.

While we're waiting, let me show you the latest
camera equipment I have just obtained. Yes, it
is a camera tripod which you just tighten it via
the screw thread above and then with an allen
hex key. And just to save cost for the base, all
you need to do is to grip it with your free hand
and pray that you do not move much.......

Anyway, I've forgotten about this experiment as
at the last minute, I had to go out to see a customer.
But I did tell my tech to switch the experiment off
by 1730. Later, when my family and I came to
Kepong for dinner, I went into the office for a
quick look. Success! Even the connectors
eaten through.

And as for this one, there is green slime just
like the one above. Weird.