Question

Smoke and fog both are aerosols. In what way are they different?

Answer 1

• In smoke and fog, the dispersion medium is same, i.e., air but they differ in dispersed phase.
• In smoke, solid carbon particles are dispersed in the air which means that the dispersion phase in smoke is solid while in fog, liquid water particles are dispersed in air which means that dispersion phase in fog is liquid.
• Smoke is a collection of airborne solid particulates dispersed in the gas which is a dispersion medium. Smoke particles are an aerosol or mist of solid particles close to an ideal range of sizes for the scattering of visible light.
• Fog is a collection of liquid droplets or ice crystals suspended in the dispersion phase as gas near the Earth's surface.