Why can you not see through fog when it’s ahead of you but you can once you’re in it?
In: Physics
Okay, let’s imagine a droplet of fog. It’s a sphere of water. Rays of light coming from every direction will enter the droplet and get reflected and scattered.
Now imagine a cloud of these droplets. Outside the cloud, there is a lot of environmental light to reflect and scatter. Inside the cloud, there is less light because much has been reflected away.
If you are in a car in the fog and turn on your high beams, you’re blinded and see glowing fog in front of you. Using dimmer light that’s more directionally focused causes less scattering, so you can see better.
tldr; less light scattering inside the fog.
It’s like how you can see through a screen door up close, but have a harder time seeing through it from far away. When you’re up closer, the holes are big enough for you to see through.
It’s like trees in a forest. You can see things around the ones that are near, but the many further off create a wall in your sight.
Latest Answers