Question

Why does the moon have very cold and very hot temperature variations e.g. from -190℃ even though it is at the same distance from the sun as the earth is?

Answer 1

Hint: Temperatures on the moon are extreme, ranging from boiling hot to freezing cold depending on where the sun is shining. The moon does not have seasons like Earth does.

Complete Answer:
- Moon has no atmosphere, unlike Earth. The energy from the Sun heats up the land as well as the air; hence the temperature does not drop too low or too high, since some of the radiation is reflected from the atmospheric layers. At night, the heat is trapped by the air thus keeping the temperature moderate.
- The moon is at the similar length away from the sun as the earth is but there are very cold and hot temperature variations, e.g. from -190°C to 110°C. The major reason beyond this large difference in temperature of the moon is that it has no atmosphere.
- The atmosphere plays a very important role in temperature control. Air is a poor conductor of temperature so it functions as a temperature buffer and checks over increase of temperature during the daytime and over cooling during the nighttime.

Note: There is no atmosphere on the moon, therefore during its cyclic rotation when it moves away from the sun it becomes very cool and when it comes close to the sun it becomes very hot. Moreover in absence of vegetation and water there is no check on temperature control.