Why does it get colder as you go up in elevation?

Answer 1

There are two major effects. There are a lot of other things going on, but these dominate.

One is that the sun mostly heats the ground, not the air, but the atmosphere is strongly cooled by direct radiation to space. So for the air at a certain level to be warmed it required vertical movement of air warmed by contact with the surface.

But when a chunk of air rises its pressure decreases and it experiences cooling from expansion (the opposite of heating by compression.)

Answer 2

The temperature is low at high altitude because air becomes thin when it reaches top. heavier air holds more moisture and makes it thick and allows it not to go to the top. Hence the fall in temperature at high altitudes and rise in low altitudes.

As air rises, the pressure decreases. The less pressure there is, the colder the air is(P proportional to T-gay lussacs law). This causes a tire to get hotter when you pump air into it, and a spray can to get colder when you release the contents into the air.

Answer 3

Air heats up by getting heat from the ground. Radiation from the sun does not directly heat up air. The heat from the sun first radiates into the ground. After that, the ground transfer the heat to the air. Also, air gets thinner the higher you go. Thinner air means less air molecules, which in turn means less medium to transfer heat.

Answer 4

Higher elevations have less atmosphere to hold heat.

Answer 5

You get closer to space.

oh please be real

the higher you get the smaller the angle of the sun ray.

the greater the angle the greater the heat