Hypoxia and Medicine

Why is weather and air cold at high altitudes and mountainous areas?

If it is because of the composition of atmosphere like nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide, then why is nitrogen cold and carbon dioxide hot?

Public Comments

1. cold air rises. warm air sinks
2. carbon has more recative molecules in it which rub with one another to produce more heat and nitrogen has less reactive molecules.
3. As you get higher the tempreture decreases and the humidity increases.
4. its because the oxygen is present there in less amounts.and also because of the circulation of air i.e. warm air comes down .
5. A lot of incorrect info has been posted so far. Air near the ground is warmed by the earth or the oceans, which are in turn warmed because they absorbs sunlight. Warm air rises, but as it rises it expands, causing its temperature to drop.
6. Wow. These answers could use more research. A lot more. In the easiest terms.... The air is colder at higher altitudes because there is less air. The lower atmosphere is more dense and therefore can hold more heat. The sun heats the earth and as the warm air rises it heats the atmosphere. As the air continues to rise the air becomes less dense, unable to hold the heat it has and so the rising air cools. The medium to carry the heat is water vapour. Our weather occurs in the lower part or "Troposphere". Since there is less air in the next layer "Stratosphere" there is relatively less water vapour, less heat which means colder air. It is not due to the composition of gases, it is due to the lack of medium to carry the heat. This is why most of our weather occurs in the lower atmosphere. Airliners can fly over most of the weather for a faster and smoother flight. There are more technical explanations but.... I hope I answered your question.