• Question: why does it get colder the higher up you get when you are closer to the sun?

    Asked by Harambe123 to Andrew, Dan, Emilia, Helen, Katy, LauraAnne, Stephanie on 14 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Dan Gordon

      Dan Gordon answered on 14 Nov 2016:

      A neat question. The key to this is the pressure of the air. As we go higher the air gets ‘thinner’, its not that there is less oxygen etc., but that there is simply less air. You start to get closer to the stratosphere which is the border between our atmosphere and the area beyond which is called space. As this happens the air pressure gets lower which means thee is less density to hold in the heat from the sub. Thus the heat start to escape and so it gets colder.

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