evaporative cooling

noun

: the process by which something (such as an object or a body of air) is cooled through the evaporation of surface liquid

Conversely, evaporative cooling is a simpler process. It's the same one through which sweating cools our skin: as water goes from liquid to gas, it absorbs heat.

—Lauren Leffer

Water evaporating from the surface of the food carries away heat, leaving the food cooler than the surrounding air. … The lower the relative humidity, the more evaporative cooling, so the greater the difference between the two temperatures.

—Nathan Myhrvold and W. Wayt Gibbs

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined above