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Asked by Aimski to Adrian, Gaia, Jim, Scott, Vicky on 10 Mar 2016.
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Adrian Buzatu answered on 10 Mar 2016:
Air is heated by the Earth. The farther from the soil, the colder the air. Just as the farther away from the fire, the colder the air.
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Scott Lawrie answered on 10 Mar 2016:
Air close to the ground gets warmed by the Earth, so the further away you go, the less warmth there is… that is until some point you get high enough that the Sun starts warming you up a LOT! People in space have to wear space suits that keep them cool from the heat of the sun!
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Gaia Andreoletti answered on 10 Mar 2016:
The reason it’s actually colder at higher altitudes is because as you go up in the atmosphere is that the Earth’s atmosphere feels less pressure the higher up you go. So as the gas in the atmosphere rises it feels less pressure, which makes it expand.
When the gas expands it loses energy and its temperature drops because we define temperature as the average energy of the particles.
Therefore, if the energy of the particles is lower, the temperature must be lower. That’s why, at altitude, the temperature appears to fall.
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