why is hotter when we go down in altitude?
458635
It is warmer closer to the surface of the earth b/c of gravity & air acting as an insulator. Sounds strange???\n\nLet me explain...\n\nAir holds heat. It is an insulator.\n\nMost of the air is found in the troposphere, the layer closest to the earth's surface. Why???\n\nAir has mass just as we do. All objects having mass obey the laws of gravity.\n\nSince gravity is greatest closest to the surface of the earth, the gas molecules in the air will be pulled more closely to the earth.\n\nSince the insulator (gas molecules) is closer to the surface, heat will be held at the surface.\n\nThe higher you go, the less gravity & therefore there will be less air & less heat.\n\n:)
438791
altitude.....higher altitude means lower air pressure.  Liquids, water included, vaporizes at lower temp when pressure lowers.  (a glass of water will boil at room temp in a vaccumn)
659938
Why do people ask such questions?\n\nIf there is an obstacle to the flow of the air, of course it's gonna change the climate and temperatures because the air flow cannot go through mountains barriers, it will clash against it and part of it will go over it.\n\nBut the point is, if it was a cool air flow in hot summer ( happens sometimes but you'll have to ask another question on this subject), the sky will get all the cool air but because of the mountains barriers the lower part of the flow will not go through, that is how we get rain on hot days!
133407
It's because of evaporation.  Whenever something evaporates, it takes energy away from what it's touching, and the temperature goes down.
7315
Psychological desire to get a temperature contrast when coming in from outside (cool down in summer, warm up in winter)\n\nAnd humidity. Insisde air is more humid in summer, so same temperature feels hotter.
194124
Because the air spreads out, and as it spreads out it retains less heat.\n\nAnd while cold air does sink and hot air rises, as cold air does get lower in altitude it warms up, and hot air cools as it rises. \n\nI live in the foothills west of Denver so I see the rising/falling air thing firsthand. In the winter we get this air that 50 miles to the west was part of a blizzard. As it descends the mountains, it dries out and heats up sometimes bringing temperatures in the middle of the winter into the 60's or 70's.
536458
The higher you go the thinner the air, if there is less air then there is less mass to hold the heat from the sun.
947849
The higher the altitude, the lower the atmospheric pressure. The less atmospheric pressure that bears down on the surface of the liquid, the easier it is for water molecules to escape into the air. Thus, the water comes to its full rapid boil at a lower temperature in the mile-high city of Denver than it can in coastal Miami. For each thousand feet above sea level, the boiling point of water drops almost 2° F.
540513
because the temperature there is very hot... make the brain hot... just kidding
591984
It gets colder as you go up through the troposphere because the air is "thinner".\n\nThere is less atmosphere here due to less gravity.\n\nB/c there is less air, there will be less heat. Air is an insulator that holds heat. Less air = less heat.\n\n:)
538503
Because the air is less dense the higher the altitude, there are less molecules available to retain heat. Therefore the heat of the sun dissipates more readily.
38874
How warm it feels is related to both the average speed of the gas molecules, and their density. Even though the average speed of the gas molecules at some places high in the air column might be quite substantial, and even faster than those at lower altitudes, there is less density as well at altitude, so there is less air to hold the heat. \n\nThink of the limiting case: at the edge of the atmosphere, where there are very few gas molecules. The gas molecules might be very hot, and moving with tremendous velocities, but there are very few of them, so if you are not in direct sunlight, it would feel quite cold. Of course, in direct sunlight, it might be very warm.  \n\nSo for the moon, \n\n"The temperature on the moon varies from -387 Fahrenheit (-233 Celsius), at night,\nto 253 Fahrenheit (123 Celsius) during the day"\n\naccording to \n\nhttp://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_kids/AskKids/moontemp.shtml
586003
Air Pressure.  The humidity and such in the air is higher and therefore holds more warmth.\n\nAt higher altitudes, where the air is less dense, there is greater distance between particulates and heat is lost faster.
834251
because your body is resting and you burn less energy. Burning Energy = Heat. \n\nk1
387707
Temperature decreases w/ height as you move up through the troposphere b/c of a decrease in air pressure.\n\nAir pressure steadily declines as you move up b/c there is less gravity. Since gravity acts on everything that has mass, including air, it holds most of the earth's air close to the ground. Air acts as an insulator or blanket, absorbing long wave radiation reradiated from the earth. When you move upward away from the surface, the air thins out. There is less air to hold heat.\n\nHowever, once you leave the troposphere, you enter the stratosphere. Here the temps steadily increase due to the presence of the ozone layer. The ozone traps heat.\n\nAs you move away from the stratosphere you will enter the mesosphere where temps decrease again due to less air & movement away from the ozone layer.\n\nAs you go even higher & enter the Thermosphere, the temps increase again b/c solar radiation is so intense that the few air particles that are present are super heated. The chances of being burned are slight to none b/c the air particles are few & far between. After all that is what is holding the actual heat.
566076
The sun rays expand when it goes further and further, so more area to cover from the sun on the land, thats the part that is hot. go further up and the rays are thinner hence cooler.
716790
Exactly the same thing as on Earth:  Differential heating caused by the Sun's rays falling on different latitudes of the planet.  This causes the warmer parts of the atmosphere to rise.  Denser atmosphere "blows" in to fill the lower pressure areas (think wind).  If the atmosphere contains materials that can condense(water, vapor, methane, ammonia, etc.) and the temperatures are in the correct range for the atmospheric contents then "weather" occurs.