Why is it colder on the top of a mountain then on the bottom?

Answer 1

Because the air is much thinner at the higher altitude, which is the top of the mountain. Thinner air can not hold as much of the sun's heat.

Answer 2

You may already know about the relationship between temperature and pressure: When you pressurize air (or any gas), it gets hotter, and when you release the pressure on air it gets colder. So a bicycle pump gets hot when you pump up a tire, and a spray paint can or a C02 cartridge gets cold as you release the pressurized gas. A refrigerator puts both of these processes together, pressurizing gas on the outside of the refrigerator to release heat and decompressing it inside the refrigerator to absorb heat (see How Refrigerators Work for details).

You may also know that air pressure decreases as altitude increases. As air rises, the pressure decreases. It is this lower pressure at higher altitudes that causes the temperature to be colder on top of a mountain than at sea level.

Answer 3

I agree with King George's answer, of course. However, just for the asker's additional information, the principle is not limited to a mountain. It apllies to any place in the atmosphere: The higher you go up, the lower the temperature.

The temperature drops about 1 degree F. for each 1000 feet you go up. Therefore, if the ground temperature at a particular spot is , say, 70 degrees; an airplane flying at 40,000 ft. directly above it would be flying thru 30 -degree cold air. Fortunately for us, the plane 's inside cabin air is heated so we wouldn't feel the frigid temperature outside.

Answer 4

On the top of the mountain the pressure is lower .Since the pressure is lower the temperature is lower so it is cold at the top of the mountain.

Answer 5

The air is cooler there because it is the ground which heats up the air.

Answer 6

laways colder at the top

Answer 7

PV=nRT