Mountain Cold vs Desert Heat?

Question

If a mountain top is closer to the Sun than the desert, when then is the desert hot and a mountain top cold? My guess is friction caused by the rays of the sun. Since there is less air pressure at high altitudes there is less resistance, therefore less friction to heat the surrounding air. Whereas the desert being lower altitudes with higher air pressure, greater resistance, longer distance/travel time, greater friction. Am I even close?

Answer 1

Your puzzle is explained in part by the thermodynamic behavior of air.

When a 'pocket' of air is heated, its density decreases relative to the surrounding atmosphere, and so it begins to float upward. As the hot air rises through the troposphere, the pressure around it drops, because there is less air and more available space to fill. The volume of the hot air expands as a result, but this expansion progressively drains the heat from the air, through a process called 'adiabatic cooling.' In the end, the air pocket is dispersed, its temperature dropping far below the air temperature at the Earth's surface. This process happens constantly, all over the atmosphere, and is one factor contributing to the overall 'lapse rate' of the atmosphere (the rate of temperature decline as altitude increases).

Answer 2

Altitude, less air in higher elevations, stronger winds created by the jet stream, thus creating a much colder enviroment in the mountains.

Answer 3

Sorry, although the sky isn't any stranger to the AIRBORNE. We leap outta planes for a living. The 82nd and Marines have fought on each and every terrain to boot possibly an iceberg, or the moon. although the 82nd would win on the moon. Jungle and barren area digital digicam would stick out like a sore thumb there, while the military ACU looks ideal for the moons color. possibly the military is attentive to some thing all of us do not.

Answer 4

when rays hit ground not top of mountain it makes heat

Answer 5

No, not even close.

Friction has nothing to do with this phenomenon.