Why the higher you go the cooler it becomes where as the heat from the sun comes from far high?

Question

I mean:
the higher you go up in the sky
the higher you go atop mountains
the higher you go in the universe
the higher you go atop buildings

Answer 1

As you go up in the atmosphere from the surface of the Earth, it becomes cooler. This is because of motions of the air, and the way that heat from the sun moves around in the atmosphere. The air is transparent at most wavelengths where the Sun is bright. Therefore, most sunlight goes through the atmosphere, hits the ground, and is absorbed, heating the ground. The ground heats the air near the ground, and warms it up. When it gets warm enough, it rises. But the air higher up has lower pressure, so the warm, rising air expands and then cools. The atmosphere is mostly heated from below, and in equilibrium it becomes cooler and less dense in a smooth way as you go up (this is the "adiabatic gradient").

If you go high enough, into the Stratosphere, the atmosphere becomes warmer again. Very high in the atmosphere, where there is almost no gas, the temperature is quite high, although if you went there it wouldn't burn you because the hot gas is so thin. This heat comes from high energy particles in the Solar Wind, which hit the upper atmosphere and heat it up.

Answer 2

Cosmo and Campbelp above have it right - sunlight comes through our atmosphere and heats the ground, the ground in turn heats the atmosphere. So as you go higher and higher in our atmosphere it gets colder because you are moving away from the heat source. There are lots more details and nuances, as mentioned by those guys above, but this is the basic answer to your question.

Answer 3

Sunlight passes through the air without warming it much at all, then hits the ground and warms the ground. The warm ground heats the air actually touching it, and the warmer air, being less dense, rises. As it rises, it expands and cools.

Answer 4

the atmosphere gets thinner and cannot retain the heat as well. If you were out in space, but out of the sunlight it would be nearly absolute zero due to no atmosphere

Answer 5

the air becomes thinner the further from the surface you travel; the air near the surface has more moisture which holds heat

Answer 6

because the air at sea level has a higher air pressure which creates friction and increases the temperature. the upper atmosphere doesn't have as much air pressure and air molucules do not interact very much.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Because the way the earth is tilted, the direct sunlight hits th equator and less of it hits the poles.