Hypoxia and Medicine

Why we feel cold in high altitudes?

Public Comments

1. Air pressure process drops temperature
2. as you go up air pressure increases
3. u yourself should be knowing it
4. the air density decreases as we scale high altitudes, it is usually more hot at the ground level and less hot in higher altitudes,ususlly hot air from the earths surface rises up and gradually gets cooled down as it rises, thats y it is relatively cooler at higher altitudes
5. It is because of the altitudes. For every 168 m 1degree temperature falls down as we go up higher. So, it gets colder and colder as we go at a more height.
6. due to the high prussure and evry 150 km the tumpruture decrease 1c
7. Many of the answers so far are results, not explanations. Air is not very dense compared to the ground or water. Radiation from the sun goes through the air without affecting it much. When this radiation hits the land or water, it is absorbed by atoms, which increases their energy and makes them hotter. Therefore most of the heating of the Earth happens from the ground up. As this heat rises, the energy decreases (think of it as getting tired doing all that work bouncing around). Also as heat rises, the density of air decreases. At very high altitudes, the temperature of the air is high, but the heat is low due to the scarcity of molecules.
8. We actually 'feel' colder when moisture can leave our skin easily. The evaporation off our skin cools us. That is why we add moisture to the air in a cold dry home. If it can't get away as in your mountain scenario, we feel warmer.
9. Smart primate nailed it pretty well. Thinner air means fewer molecular collisions so less heat and lower temp even if the individual molecules are fast moving(hot). Heat is the average kinetic energy in a volume of a gas. It also means higher evaporation rates because the thin air is in effect a partial vacuum.
10. air pressure increases as you go up
11. Air becomes lighter when we reach high altitudes .
12. less air