Is blowing on food really effective?

Just wondering, when you have a really hot cup of coffee or tea, is blowing on it worth it? If giving it cold breath a couple times will only bring the water temperature down an unnoticeable amount, then it's just better to let it wait in room temperature. Same applies to meat or vegetables.

The temperature of your breath doesn't matter. You aren't trying to transfer heat from the food to your breath, you're trying to create lower pressure above the food so liquid from it evaporates faster, thereby cooling it.

>>2
It does create areas of low pressure, but it also creates regions of high pressure. I believe what really happens is an increase in collisions of air molecules across moist surfaces which makes it more likely for water molecules to escape. If you blow over a glass of water you see that the water ripples, this reduces surface tension and over a large surface area than the area which is a concave surface. The fact that some water may be literally picked up by the stream of air is also a factor.

All wrong. In a room there generally isn't any significant air movement, and air is rather insulative. By blowing you're moving away the hot air directly above/around the food/drink and replacing it with cooler air from the environment.

>>1
>>2
>>3
>>4
>>5
All wrong.

By blowing you are trying to increase number of possible states of gas directly above.
tl;dr
Thus, you cool the food.

Blow me.

by blowing on it you increase the rate of evaporation, thereby cooling it.

By blowing, you increase the cooling, thereby rate of evaporation it.

The actual temperature of your breath doesn't matter; what happens is that the steam that forms above hot food can't absorb heat from the food, so it forms a sort of insulating cover. By blowing over the food, you push the steam away, replacing it with air that can thermodynamically accept heat from the food. Basically what >>4 said.