Question

Think of the moon, which isabout the same distance from the Sun thatthe Earth is. Despite that, on the surface ofthe moon, with no atmosphere, thetemperature ranges from –190º C to 110º C. why?

Answer 1

• The atmosphere consists air which is a combination of several gases.
• Gases are poor conductors of heat and allows heat through them to less extent and gets heated up very slowly.
• Hence, the presence of these gases in the atmosphere of earth prevents sudden rise or drop temperature and also prevents much heating or cooling.
• Due to the absence of air/atmosphere on moon, there is no possibility of absorption of heat produced by sun by any medium. Hence, the temperature on moon can rise up to very high/low values in small intervals of time, that is very quickly.