Why when we go higher it gets colder?

Question

when we increase altitude the air temperature goes colder. Even when we are closer to the sun. Why?

Answer 1

thiner air

Answer 2

The air is thiner and drier ...meaning that heat isn't trapped in the air...and particularly in the water/moisture

Answer 3

im pretty sure that its because the sun rays heat our planet and the surface absorbs and stores the heat making it genreally warmer than the gas particales which are dont store heat very well that the sky is filled with. plus space is freeeeeeeezing because theres no way for space to store heat so as you get closer to space the colder it gets

Answer 4

rays of the sun do not heat the air.they heat objects and how close to the earth you are its warmer.the temp.falls 6 deegres for 100 m altitude(sorry if i have done mistakes in writting,because i am from albania)

Answer 5

The Sun's rays hit the Earth's surface which radiates heat into the lower portion of our atmosphere.  For the first 10km (6mi) the temperatures go down (Troposphere).  From 10 km to 50 km (6 to 33 mi) the temperatures rise due to solar UV rays breaking apart ozone molecules (stratosphere)  Temperatures the decrease for the nest 50 km (33mi) as you move away from the ozone layer  (Mesosphere). As you leave the mesosphere temperature once again rise as gas molecules are few and far between.

While we are closer to the Sun as we rise through the atmosphere we only get a few miles closer.  (the Sun's average distance to Earth is 93,000,000 miles) It would be like you standing 5 miles from a camp fire and taking one step closer to it expecting to feel warmer

Answer 6

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.