What makes mountain peaks so cold?

Question

I was just thinking about this phenomenon, when I realized that being higher on a mountain would technically put you closer to the sun, so you would expect it to be hotter.
Could it be due to the fact that higher altitude means that the air is thinner?
I'm sure there is a simple answer, but what exactly is the reason behind this?

Hmm I'm getting some good thoughts here, but nothing is quite hitting it directly.

Also another fact I wanted to throw in:
What about the whole thing about heat rising and cold air dropping lower to the ground?

Answer 1

ELEVATION

Answer 2

Less atmosphere means less little molecules of O2 and other gasses are hitting your body. That means less heat. When temperatures are hotter gases will move faster and strike objects with more force, thus raising the temperature. Also, the Norther hemispheres Summer occurs when the Earth is furthest away from the sun. But that happens because the tilt of the Earth makes the rays of sunlight strike the Earth more directly during those months. Think of how you direct a magnifying glass into a fine point to make paper light on fire. it is kind of like that, focusing the light in a smaller area. I know I got off topic, but figured if you liked the atmosphere answer, you would like the other too.

Answer 3

The air at the ground is at a higher pressure than air higher up; this is because the air at the ground is compressed by the weight of all the air above it. Air weighs quite a lot: A square column of air one meter across weighs ten tonnes! The air pressure decreases steadily as you go up, since there's less air pressing down from above, until you reach zero pressure, which is outer space. In what follows, I'll talk a lot about "air parcels". You should imagine a "chunk" of air, identical to the air around it, but identified by drawing an imaginary boundary around it, or by marking each of the molecules in it with a little tattoo. Now, the air in the lower atmosphere (the "troposphere") is constantly mixed by convection, which results from sunlight heating the ground. So air parcels are being constantly lifted from the ground to high altitude and back again. As a chunk of air rises, its pressure decreases, and so its temperature drops. Descending parcels are warmed as they're compressed. This is what makes the air cooler higher up: the process is called adiabatic expansion/compression.

Answer 4

Air is thinner, lower atmospheric pressure...all due to higher elevation. Just because mountains are higher and "closer" to the sun...it's a myth that makes no sense, considering mountains several thousand feet high pale in comparison to the distance from the earth to the sun...about 93 million miles.

Answer 5

The air is more dense the closer you get to the outer layers of the atmosphere. It's like water but it's the opposite. It's the Earth that radiates heat from the Gamma rays of the sun and the less dense air makes it possible for you to feel the sun's heat. Hence, in the winter, when the air is much more dense, you can't feel it very much.

Answer 6

Yes, in higher altitude, the air is thinner, causing mountain peaks to be colder.

People generally don't think of air as an insulator, but this is easily demonstrated in a double-pane window.

Answer 7

Yes, the air is thinner at higher elevations and the temperatures are usually much cooler. Don't ask me to explain why but I live in the mountains and this is a fact.

Answer 8

The altitude of mountains means that the tops exist in higher cold layers of the atmosphere. They are consequently often subject to glaciation and erosion through frost action.

Answer 9

because the higher place is cold the air at the peak is fresh so its cold like the mt. everest the air there is fresh so its cold but sumtyms the temperature can be change lyk 35 degree but 4 a few hour

Answer 10

u c,when the sun's radiation hits the earth,the earth surface absorbs the heat and radiates it back into the atmosphere.so the closer u r to the surfacethe more heat u receive.thats y mountain tops r colder.aslo,the temperature drops by 6degrees celsius fr every 110m of ascent frm the earth's surface.

Answer 11

Its the altitude of the mountain peak and also due to air pressure. the pressure of air at height is very less.The air gets thicker and denser.