8 yr/old asks why it gets colder as you go up a mountain even though you are getting closer to the sun.?

Question

age appropriate answer please

Answer 1

The distance from the sun does not matter at all. it is often a common misinterpretation. The sun is so far away from Earth, so even if you are many kilometers above sea level, the amount of light and heat received is the same.

The movement of wind above the ground is another factor that cools down the air above sea level, so the higher you ascend, the colder it gets.

Air pressure. The higher the altitude, the less dense the air is. Since density is the overall mass per unit volume, air that is found at high altitudes have low densities, meaning that there are fewer molecules per unit volume in the air at high altitudes, therefore, the force ( air pressure) exerted is the least. An imbalance in air pressures can lead to air turbulence. Cool air weighs more than warm air in the same space., and that's why it feels colder the further you go up.

Air molecules that are wider apart are cooler than air molecules that are closer together. Air molecules that are closer together are warmer. This warm air causes higher pressure than colder air. The changes in air pressure causes the wind to start to blow. Sometimes the wind will change direction when the Sun goes down and the Earth's surface cools off. Air pressures change over different parts of the Earth's surface.

Answer 2

The reason why it gets colder is because the higher up you go in elevation, the cooler the temperature gets.

Answer 3

There are two reasons for this.

1: You are farther from the core which is the main source of heat on earth.

2: There is less land to insulate. The land is less than that at sea level so there is less to absorb the heat, and less to distribute it.

Answer 4

When you pump up your bicycle tire, you work hard to squeeze the air into the bottom of the pump. That makes the air hot, and you can feel how hot the bottom of the pump gets. After the air has been in the tire a while, its it cools down to the same temperature as the outside air. When you let the air out of the tire, it comes out cold because the work that put the air in the tire is lost on the way out.

Air on the valley is warm because the weight of all the air on top of it is squeezing it. Air on top of the mountain is cold because it doesn't have as much air above it pushing down.

Sunlight goes thru the air and doesn't stop until it hits the ground. It heats the ground, and the ground heats the air. Air way up high doesn't get heated because it's a long way from the warm ground.