A bit embarrassing but doesn’t click in my head. I have a BS in mechanical engineering and did pretty well in thermodynamics, aerodynamics, and heat transfer. I understand the pressure and temperature relationship of gases.
But when it comes to the weather, why does high atmospheric pressure cause hot temperatures? I understand the vice versa because gases expand (and raise to the top) when they are hot. So warm weather results in higher atmospheric pressure.
But why does high pressure cause hot temperatures? I would think hot air raises therefore the hot air should (almost always) be at the top of the atmosphere, leaving nice cool air for us at the bottom.
Also, it’s cooler the higher you go in altitude. But the air gets “thinner” as you go up.
P.S. I hate the heat.
In: Planetary Science
The simplest explanation is that if you throw a ball upwards in the atmosphere it slows down. Temperature is a measure of kinetic energy, so it drops.
Mathematically energy is thermal energy (specific heat*temperature=29.19 J/mol/K*T) plus potential energy (m*g*z~0.029 kg/mol *9.8 m/s^2) -g/c_p is then roughly -0.01 K/m or -10 K/km.
The pressure explanation is also correct but harder to work out mathematically.
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