why is it that the closer we get to the sun the cooler it becomes?
544676
I believe that you are referring to the fact that the earth's closest approach to the sun occurs in December/January, which are the coldest months.\n\nFirst of all, it may not be immediately obvious, but only the northern hemisphere is experiencing winter in December/January.\n\nSecondly, distance from the sun is by far not the main reason for differences in temperature on earth.  Rather, much more important is the tilt of the earth on its axis.\n\nWhen the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, the solar radiation strikes earth at a more direct angle than when it is tilted away from the sun.  It just so happens that the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun in December/January, so this is when it is coldest, even though the earth is closer to the sun.
1160653
Space near the earth is actually filled with a gas called the interplanetary medium (see first source). This gas, which is mostly gas coming from the sun, is quite hot, around 100,000 degrees C. But, it's also only 10^-18th the density of sea level air, so it carries very little heat.\n\nAir is relatively thick, so we're used to conduction and convection determining an objects temperature.  There's very little of either in space, so radiation dominates.  The sun's light is about twice as strong in space as it is on earth.  How hot this heats an object depends on the objects shape and color, but it's fair to say that most things will heat up to a few hundred degrees. \n\nBecause there's no air in space, everything looses heat very slowly, like being in a thermos. So, anything that produces heat, like a human body or machinery, will gradually warm up--space suits have built-in coolers to deal with this. \n\nIf you're out of the sunlight and have used up all your internal energy, you eventually cool down to about -25 to +25 C.  Infrared radiation from the earth is what prevents you from getting colder.  If you were also far away from the earth, you'd cool down to something between -240C and -270C.
57358
Sunny days are the result of high pressure systems which tend to be drier and colder in the winter. There is also no cloud cover at night to keep the reradiation in and if there is snow on the ground it is even brighter and the snow is reflecting the heat back out into space.
11578
It's a long winded explanation - see link below.\n\n(snip)\nthe sun's heat acts almost the same as the sun's light — it passes through the air almost as though the air wasn't there.\n\nThis means that almost all of the sun's heat goes into warming up the oceans and the land it hits. As the oceans and ground warm up, they warm the air next to them, and this air warms the air a little higher up and so on. But, as you go higher, there's less and less heat available to go up, and the air gets colder.\n(snip)
698548
The fact that things get warm in the sun shows absorption. Water is a good example. Clouds reflect the sun. It is cooler on a cloudy day. Insolation by the sun(notice Spelling) refers to the amount of solar energy coming through the earths atmosphere. Insulation means preventing the movement of heat or electricity.
1136431
Should be simple.  Warm air rises because it is less dense than cool air.  Cool air rushes in to replace the rising warm air.\n\nPlug this simple formula into the complex real world of spinning globe, equitorial heat and polar regions & you get weather.
582102
Air is denser the lower you go on the earth, due to gravity pullin gthe air down. As you move up, there is more "room" for the air to expand. Air temp is just the measure of the net kinetic energy of the molecules of air. The faster and more there are, the hotter it is. therefore, as the air expands as it moves up into the atmosphere, it cools. On top of a mountain, there is less molecules actually hitting your skin, so it feels very cold.
736398
The tilt of the earth on its axis. When it is tiled one way, the sun hits more directly. When it is tilted the other way, it is more spread out.\n\nAgainst what you may think, the earth is actually closer to the sun in the winter than in the summer.
1159227
As a general rule, warm air rises and cool air sinks\nit expands and becomes lighter as the molecules of air move farther apart
812414
In the morning/evening the sun rays are falling obliquely on to the earth, \nthereby passing through a thicker layer of the atmospheric air because of which (oblique incidence) a lot of its blue component is scattered off \n\nIts 1/lambda^4 scattering - smaller the lambda, larger is the energy scattered off/lost as compared to shorter path transversed during the day time \n\n[This is a standard class XII Physics question]
1169790
because the sun is in the middle of setting
445170
It's cooler in hot weather.
108259
the ozone lair is thining faster than it can renue its self so the sun is not reflected as much therefore the earth is graduly warmer year after year and they keep upgradeing sunblock for this reason the suns ultraviolet rays are more intense than they use to be so we are experiencing more cases of skin cancer although some cases can be attrubuted to taning beds as well.
952186
It's generally true that the further the Earth were from the Sun, the colder it would be, and the closer the warmer.  However, this is not necessarily the most important factor.  For example, the Earth is closer to the Sun when it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, not further.  But the winter is cold because the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the Sun at this time.  In a nearly circular orbit, the tilt of the axis is a stronger effect than the orbit's eccentricity.  However, with all other things equal, the planet's temperature would vary with distance from the Sun.\n\nThe Sun has a range of orbits around it that are considered a "habitable zone."  The Earth could have different orbital distances within this range, and life on Earth could theoretically continue, but probably with great disruption to the ecosystem.  Not all species would survive.  Humans would have a good shot because we could use technology to warm or cool our enviornment as needed.  Closer to the Sun that the habitabile zone, the heat and radiation are too intense for life as we know it.  Further away, the heat and light available are insufficient to sustain life.\n\nEarth could quite possibly exist as a habitable planet in the orbits current occupied by Venus and Mars.  Venus is extremely hot, but much of that comes from Venus' runaway greenhouse effect that makes its surface hotter than that of Mercury, which is closer to the Sun.  Mars is rather cold, but that is partly due to the planet's lack of greenhouse gases, preventing it from retaining the Sun's energy to the extent that Earth does.
224344
it is true that at higher altitudes there is more heat provided by the sun, but there is also much less atmosphere between the surface of the earth and space.  This means that the thermal energy provided by the sun travels out to space much faster, causing a temperature drop.  In addition as previously mentioned, gasses at lower pressures tend to exist at lower temperatures as given by the ideal gas law.
1125684
Cooling occurs from the ground up. The ground is always radiating away heat and during night there's no heat received from the sun. Thus a calm & clear night tends to become colder as it progresses, and the temperature is lowest directly above the surface and increases going up - may be several °F colder a foot above the ground than where the thermometer is at about 6-7 feet.\n\nSome sunshine is recieved with the twilight before sunrise, but very little. Even after sunrise, obstructions along the horizon can prevent heating of the ground right away. Once the ground  is heated, it doesn't take long for the temperature at 6-7 feet above ground to increase - yet that is often after sunrise - especially with a snow cover which does not absorb sunlight well.\n\nA phenomenon which can sometimes contribute to this is that with the first significant amount of heating, convection mixes the air right above the ground. As mentioned previously, that cooler air in the first foot or so can be kicked up and brought across the sensor at 6-7 feet for a brief time before the entire layer mixes and is warmer. A minimum temperature record was broken at KMPO airport this past December 14 that way - temperature decreased from -3° to -9° over a period of about 20 minutes just after sunrise. I had 2° only 3 miles away & 300 feet lower - occured here too, but not as much.\n\nDuring a cloudy or breezy night, none of the above applies.
1014941
The air gets thinner with altitude and with that so does the temperature. \n\nBesides, to say that you're approaching the sun when you've not even left earth's atmosphere is like saying you're approaching New York when you've only checked in your luggage at Heathrow.