Explain how air pressure decreases as you go higher in the atmosphere.
Answers
Answer:
Atmospheric pressure varies in relation to altitude, temperature and air humidity.
The pressure decreases with increasing altitude because both the height of the overlying air column and the density of the air decrease.
The pressure decreases with increasing temperature because, as it warms up, the air expands, it becomes less dense and therefore lighter. For this reason, warm air masses have a lower pressure than cold air, therefore the first tend to rise, the second to go down.
The pressure decreases with increasing atmospheric humidity, that is its water vapor content, since the latter has a lower density of oxygen and nitrogen, the gases present in greater quantities in the atmosphere. Therefore, moist air is lighter than dry air and tends to rise upwards, while the second tends to go down.
At higher elevations, there are fewer air molecules above a given surface than a similar surface at lower levels. ... Since most of the atmosphere's molecules are held close to the earth's surface by the force of gravity, air pressure decreases rapidly at first, then more slowly at higher levels.