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Re: vapor versus gas



The difference between vapor and gas John Denker describes is certainly
one of the descriptions I ran across when I was looking at books and
asking people about this. I suspect I may have used that distinction
myself, perhaps without thinking much about it. One thing for sure,
I'll put much more thought into which word I use in my future teaching.
Although I'm not sure what result the extra thought will produce,
John's description is a high probability.

In a recent posting I suggested the word "dispersion" for fog. In a
later posting Leigh Palmer suggested "aerosol" for fog. I admit I like
aerosol better than dispersion even though both are in use. Dispersion
includes more possibilities (such as fine solids dispersed in liquid)
whereas aerosol specifically requires that the substance is dispersed
in a gas... or was that vapor I wanted?

Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817