Sitting at a campfire, there is nothing worse than when the smoke seems to follow you. There you are trying to enjoy a fire, minding your own business, when the smoke seems to pick you to pick on. 

There are scientific reasons for this, and why the smoke likes to favor some over others.

Let's start with the basics.

We have told you in the past that the atmosphere is a fluid. It yields easily to external pressures, has no fixed shape, but takes the shape of its container. This also means that if you move air molecules, other air molecules have to move in to fill the void.  

Sort of like moving your hand through water.  

When you push some water in a container, the other water in the container fills the void. In this instance, the heat from the fire causes air to rise, and that gets replaced by less dense air moving in. 

That is called convection! 

As long as there is no wind, this setup will cause the smoke to go straight up.

So, what is happening to make the smoke follow someone?

The smoke starts following people when the air flow is disrupted! When someone stands next to the fire, they block incoming air. As the hot, less dense air rises, new air is trying to replace it in all directions. If someone is standing in the way, that creates an area of low pressure or vacuum in front of you.  

That vacuum needs to be filled with something, so the smoke essentially gets sucked in towards that person. This can also happen if too many people are grouped together on one side of the fire.

The watering eyes and stinky smoke can quickly make for a bad time, so what can you do?

You should be evenly spaced around the fire with the other guests. This will help create enough airflow to hopefully avoid creating a vacuum for smoke to fill. It may be nice to sit close to a special someone at a fire, but that romance may quickly go from smoldering to smoky if you do not allow air to flow properly.

Other factors, such as a person's height or whether they are standing or sitting, also come into play.  

So, if you are ever at a fire and the smoke seems to be coming for you, just sit opposite the largest group of people, and you should be better off.