If hot air rises, then why does it get colder the higher you go? Where does the hot air go?

Question

If hot air rises, then why does it get colder the higher you go? Where does the hot air go?

In:

Answer 1

The higher you go the less dense the atmosphere becomes. This means there are less molecules which could transfer energy so the overall temperature is less than it would be on earth’s surface. Also the molecules in the air lose energy on their way up. Either through radiating it away or colliding with other molecules which spreads the energy across more molecules and thus cooling them down.