Why is it that it becomes cooler as you go up while in real sense you are approaching the sun!?

Answer 1

The air gets thinner with altitude and with that so does the temperature.

Besides, to say that you're approaching the sun when you've not even left earth's atmosphere is like saying you're approaching New York when you've only checked in your luggage at Heathrow.

Answer 2

We dont really enter the atmosphere above the exosphere.So its called as good as staying in level with the earth.And only a few 1000 feet abovwe the ground.
Density altitude is the altitude in the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) at which the air density is equal to local conditions. Aircraft performance depends on density altitude, which is affected by barometric pressure and temperature. On a very hot day, density altitude at an airport may be so high as to preclude takeoff, particularly for helicopters or a heavily loaded aircraft.
Mountain medicine recognizes three altitude regions: (Non-Physician Altitude Tutorial)

* High altitude = 1500 m – 3500 m
* Very High altitude = 3500 m – 5500 m
* Extreme altitude = 5500 m – above

Answer 3

Heat is stored in a sense near to the ground. The further up you go the less dense the atmosphere so there's less to hold the heat. There is no atmosphere in space and as a result it's very cold until you get very much closer to the sun than we are.

Answer 4

as you go up in the lower atmosphere, it gets cooler ubtil you reach the tropopause (edge of lower atmosphere) because the air gets thinner. once you get outside the atmosphere, it gets hotter as you approach the sun

Answer 5

There probably aren't as many molecules of something or other up there and they decrease with altitude, hence the expression "The higher the fewer!"... or not, maybe.

Answer 6

in the higher altitude air is thiner

Answer 7

its the temperature of air at higher altitude.

Answer 8

Never really thought of that. Can't fly you see.