Temperatures

Why is it colder at some places at sometimes, while it is not at other places? For example, it is invariably colder higher up in mountains and warmer in the plains. Also it is usually much warmer in coastal places then in the interiors. Let us take up the case of mountains plains first. !oth fire and "un provide warmth. !ut there is a difference. As we move towards a fire we feel warmer, but high up on the mountains it is free#ing cold, though as we climb up a mountain we are in fact getting closer to the "un. $he temperature on the %verest summit is always below #ero degrees centigrade, even though it is about &',((( feet closer to the big )fireball* ++ the "un. ,uch unlike getting closer to a fire. Why this paradox? Let-s look at it carefully and ask ourselves a few .uestions. A fire is produced by burning. $he fires we often come across are a result of burning a piece of wood, paper or any other combustible substance, say petrol, kerosene or plastics. For this kind of burning air is essential. $hat-s why we cover a burning ob/ect to put off fire. "o, commonly a fire is something that is produced when a combustible ob/ect burns in the presence of air. We feel hot as we move closer to a fire, because as the ob/ect burns, it produces several hot gases, mainly water and carbon dioxide. As these gases diffuse away from the fire they heat the air and any ob/ect around, and thus get colder. When we move closer to a fire we feel warmer largely because the air near a fire is hotter. $he air is always between us and the fire.

0sn1t there a fire in the "un? 234 $here are no combustible substances ++ wood, petrol, etc. on the "un. $here is no air either. 0n fact there is no gas air in space beyond a few thousand kilometers from the %arth-s surface. 0ts complete vacuum. $he gases produced by the fire on the "un cannot reach us, because they are held by "un-s gravity. $he difference is evident in the temperature. $he "un is several hundred times hotter than the hottest place on the %arth. 5ow then, does the "un heat up? $he heat from the "un is a result of atomic nuclei merging together, like hydrogen, $his process produces not only hot gases, which cannot escape away from the "un but also much more energetic radiations including light. We get heat from the "un not through gases, but through such kinds of radiation only. Light and heat are forms of energy, and one form of energy can be converted into another. "unlight, when it falls on ob/ects on %arth6 soil, water, air, rocks, gets converted into heat. $he air around us is really heated from the bottom, not from the top ++ the direction of the "un. $he soils, the roads, the buildings, the lakes, the sea in our neighborhood heat the air around us by absorbing sunlight. $he trees and plants though contribute very little, because most of the sunlight falling on them is used either to evaporate water in them or for their growth. Larger the unvegetated land area around us that receives direct sunlight for longer time, higher is the temperature of the air. 2ow, it is not very difficult to understand why the air on the high mountains is colder. 0n the month of 7une, when the day temperature in 8elhi city, or deserts like 7aiselmere can go upto 9: degrees centigrade, in hill stations like "himla it remains below ;(. $his is largely because while in 8elhi <or 7aisalmere= it is only buildings <or desert= every where around, in "himla, one sees lots more sky ++ the land area at higher altitudes becomes progressively scarce. "o, as we go up in the mountains, we are not moving moving towards the real source of heat, rather we are moving away from a bigger towards a smaller heat source. $hus, generally higher the altitude of a hill station lower is its ambient temperature. 0n fact, it is said that the temperature falls by about >(? for every @(((m increase in altitude. !ut, there are exceptions to this rule, for example, Ladakh. 0t is located at very high altitude. $he highest observatory in the world is located here. 0f you ever visit Leh in Ladakh, you will find that days in summer can be rather hot. Why is it so? 0n sharp contrast to most hill stations like "himla, ,ussourie, 2ainitalA in Leh. 0n 0ndia, there are extensive plateau areas. "olar energy absorbed by these areas can raise the day time temperature of the air around sufficiently. !ut, the night temperatures are invariably very low. $his is so because the heat produced by light absorption during the day escapes much faster at higher altitudes because of air there moves away much faster. 2ow, how do we explain the ambient temperatures at coastal places like ,umbai, ?hennai,

Bolkata, $rivandrum? $emperature in these cities seldom rises <or drops= as much as it does in 8elhi, 7aipur or !hopal. Water in an ocean nearby absorbs heat, and gives it off, more slowly than does soil and rocks on land. $he cooler air above the sea, as it flows towards a coastal city, does not allow the temperature in such places to rise or drop very much. Land area and the proximity to ocean are not the only factors that determine how hot a place can be at a particular time. $here are several other factors too that are necessary to explain the ambient temperature changes through the year, it changes through a day also. ,ornings and evenings are invariably colder than at noon. $hen there are seasons ++ summer and winter. $hese factors include the seasonal winds and the distribution of sunlight. What then about places closer to the poles, like 2orway? We know very well that the %arth1s axis of rotation is tilted, $hat is in these places, the duration of daytime can be much shorter. "o, the land there has much less time to get heated by "un rays. "o evidently they get warmer much less. We can often explain the temperature changes through a day <or an year= by considering how the sunlight falling on the %arth spreads out. 0t changes with place, month and time of day. 0n early morning, or later in the evening, sunlight spreads over ground rather thinly than it does at noon. $his is so, because a particular place is near the edge of the hemispherical part of the %arth that faces the "un, when the "un sets or rises there. $herefore, the sun rays at these times are almost parallel to the ground in these places. When this so the spreading out of sunlight is thinner and hence the temperature rise slower. After the night while a large fraction of the heat from the soil has already been lost this provides us some relief as lower ambient temperature. Following the similar reasoning one can explain summer and winter too. ?an you now? For a more advanced discussion one may visit http6 www.csecduac.in viewtopic.php?tC@;> Rakesh Mohan Hallen