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

Examples of evaporative cooling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Laser cooling slowed the atoms, and evaporative cooling removed the most energetic ones, allowing the remaining atoms to form a condensate inside an optical dipole trap. — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 7 Nov. 2026

Mexar developed Vapor, a wearable fan for frontline workers that enhances the body’s natural evaporative cooling. — Hannah Singleton, Time, 15 Oct. 2026

Several alternative cooling techniques consume less water than traditional open-loop evaporative cooling. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Oct. 2026

Historically, the industry relied on evaporative cooling, essentially sweating away millions of gallons of water to reject heat into the atmosphere. — Kevin Brown, Forbes.com, 24 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined above