Question

A tall cylindrical vessel with gaseous nitrogen is located in a uniform gravitational field in which the free-fall acceleration is equal to g. The temperature of the nitrogen varies along the height h so that its density is the same throughout the volume. Find the temperature gradient dT/dh.

Answer 1

Consider a thin layer at a height h and thickness dh. Let p and dp+p be the pressure on the two sides of the layer. The mass of the layer is Sdhp. Equating vertical downward force to the force acting on the layer.

That means, temperature of air drops by 34°C at a height of 1 km above bottom.