URGENT- please help me with honors earth science

Question

How does altitude affect climate patterns in a region?

A. Areas at high elevations have cooler temperatures.

B. Air continues to warm as it rises to a higher elevation.

C. Tropical regions do not have many differences in altitude.

D. High-altitude areas have less variation in seasonal temperatures.

Answer 1

I believe A is the correct answer.

Reasoning: We can use the principle that when sunlight heats earth's surface it causes the air temperature to increase and rise, since the particles will move more and spread out. So we have all this less dense air at higher elevations which causes it to stay cooler since those air particles are both farther from the warmer surface of the earth and also farther from each other. There are other factors that affect climate as well, but in general higher elevation areas are cooler than lower elevation in the same area.

Strategy: We can use personal experience or prior knowledge to eliminate a few options first to increase our chances of finding the right answer. For example, I have seen the movie UP and have seen real pictures of South America where they were and know that tropical regions can have many changes in altitude, so c is out.

Answer b is similar to the principle that warm air rises except that it says that the air continues to warm as it rises, which is not true. The warm air rises, but it doesn't stay warm! B is out. To be honest, I am not sure why D is wrong from a scientific standpoint, but to help you remember that air (close to earth) at higher elevation is cooler picture snow on the tops of mountains!