If heat rises, why is it so cold on tops of mountains? ?

Question

If heat rises, why is it so cold on tops of mountains? ?

Answer 1

Heat dissipates by the time it gets there. Also, the air up there is less dense, which makes it feel cooler.

Answer 2

This is a very good question that puzzles many. The answer is simple: It is called the adiabatic cooling; the same thing that happens in you fridge. A gas is being compressed and adiabatically warms up. Then it goes inside the fridge's isolation and it is being released thus cooling down that air and the content of the fridge.

As air rises in the atmosphere, the pressure sinks and the air cools down. When it gets so cold that it cannot contain more water, it condenses to form clouds.

Now, you are right to say that cold air being heavier should sink; and it does. Once the sun is behind the horizon and doesn't heat anymore the ground, cold air sinks down in the valleys. In places like Greenland, where very cold air on the central plateau sinks in the coastal fjords, this can create wind up to storm force and it has been known to have destroyed villages down in th fjords.

Because saturated air doesn't cool down adiabatically as fast as dry air, clouds may sometime continue to rise and this is what happens when thunderstorms are forming.

Answer 3

Hello,

It's the higher elevation, the higher you go, the less air you have, it becomes denser & harder to breather, that's why it's so cold on the mountains.

Hope that has helped!   Have a great day!

Peace out,

FreeSpiritRunning...

Answer 4

The main place air is heated is at the earth’s surface, where it is warmed by sunlight. So there are always updrafts of rising hot air above us.

As we go up in the atmosphere, air pressure continually becomes less. That means the rising air is expanding. And a characteristic of any gas is that it is cooled by expansion. So the draft of warm air that starts rising from the earth’s surface continually cools itself as it rises. The temperature goes down three or four degrees Fahrenheit for every thousand feet higher we go.

Answer 5

The higher the elevation, the less dense the air is.

I've realized this because of our football teams.

If you live in the states, you'll understand.

I live in Miami, and whenever our Miami Dolphins go out of state to play, to  a higher elevation, a lot of time you'll see them with oxygen on the sideline, because the air is so light, it makes it hard for them to breathe, since their used to such a low elevation in Miami.

Anyways, since the air is less dense, it's cooler.

Answer 6

It is because the air is less dense.

Answer 7

Good question!,I live in the french alps at an elevation of 1,400m and today it was hot and sunny ...yet I can look-up at the permanent glaciers(around 3,500m?) and always think of that high alpine climate where temperatures are just above freezing by day and below freezing at night(even in this month).

Answer 8

Hot air rises. Heat radiates in all directions.

A mixture of exposure to wind and low air pressure make the tops of mountains cold. (by the time the warm air gets there all the heat energy has been dissipated)