Wide-angle fog can cool a much __ surface than a steady stream.

Wide-angle fog can cool a much __ surface than a steady stream.

• A. NARROWER
• B. WIDER
• C. SAME
• D. HOTTER

Answer: (B)

Wide-angle fog cools a much wider surface because the tiny droplets blanket and contact a broad area at once. Each droplet evaporates and absorbs heat from the surface (latent heat of vaporization), so spreading those droplets over a wider swath distributes the cooling effect over more surface area. A steady stream, by contrast, is concentrated along a narrow path, cooling only a narrow strip. So the broad dispersion of fog means more of the surface gets cooled at the same time, making the surface cooling wider.

Wide-angle fog cools a much wider surface because the tiny droplets blanket and contact a broad area at once. Each droplet evaporates and absorbs heat from the surface (latent heat of vaporization), so spreading those droplets over a wider swath distributes the cooling effect over more surface area. A steady stream, by contrast, is concentrated along a narrow path, cooling only a narrow strip. So the broad dispersion of fog means more of the surface gets cooled at the same time, making the surface cooling wider.