Fog vs mist?

http://www.dictionary.com

fog [fog, fawg] Show IPA noun, verb, fogged, fog⋅ging.

1. a cloudlike mass or layer of minute water droplets or ice crystals near the surface of the earth, appreciably reducing visibility. Compare ice fog, mist, smog.

Synonyms:
London fog, brume, cloud, effluvium, film, gloom, grease, ground clouds, haze, miasma, murk, murkiness, nebula, obscurity, pea soup, smaze, smog, smoke, smother, soup, steam, vapor, visibility zero-zero, wisp

___________

Mist:

1. a cloudlike aggregation of minute globules of water suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface, reducing visibility to a lesser degree than fog.

Synonyms:
brume, cloud, condensation, dew, drizzle, fog, ground clouds, haze, moisture, rain, smog, soup, spray, steam, visibility zero



I don't think the difference is that big of a deal, really. *shrugs*

WinterDusk14 said:

So, in your case, if you were to write a story about a world enveloped by a really thick cloud. How would you call it? Mist? Fog? For me, fog fits the description better but I prefer to use the word mist. So, I have no idea right now, I'm torn.

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I wouldn't talk about it at all if I were you. Put yourself in their shoes. We don't talk about the atmosphere. We talk about the things we can see in it. We just take the atmosphere for granted, because we don't really know anything else. The only reason we talk about fog, is because it breaks from the norm (ie clear vision). If you're a bit clever here you can increase immersion. I suggest only talking about it indirectly by explain how and what they can see.

Mist has larger droplets than fog.

Where I live, we have both fairly often. The weather reporters (all of them meteorologists) seem to distinguish between them in this way: fog is suspended in the air. It may settle into low-lying areas (creating a beautiful, albeit creepy, effect on farm fields and in lightly wooded areas with rolling ground), but it doesn't fall.

Mist creates a similar visual loss, but it goes all the way up to the cloud producing it. It doesn't hang suspended, nor drift around, but falls evenly and does not favor low-lying areas over high ones. It's more like super-fine rain.

Maryn, noting that she does indeed live under leaden skies

Fantasy: mist.

SF: fog.

Really Hard SF: ground-layer cloud formation.


Glad to be of help. HAND.