Why is 'the' used before air in the expression in the air? Air is an uncountable noun. However, 'the' (the article) precedes the word 'air'. For example: He hit a ball in the air. How can air be specific?
Answer
The definite article can be used with both count and mass nouns. With the latter you are referring to some specific portion of it. If I were to say The water is cold, I have a particular portion of water in mind— perhaps the water in my laboratory beaker, or perhaps the water of the lake I am wading in. If I were to say Water is cold, I would mean that all water everywhere is cold, and one would immediately object that water can be warmed up, and that some water is quite hot.
Naturally, you will see the in conjunction with words for "big" concepts, whether physically large like geographic or planetary features, or conceptually sweeping: the sea, the economy, the bush, and so forth. The air in in the air is also a more metaphorical usage:
air 1.2. the free or unconfined space above the surface of the earth: he celebrated by tossing his hat high in the air [ODO]
Thus, to hit something in the air or into the air is to hit it away from the earth. If I hit a line drive, in which the ball is projected close to the ground, it certainly traveling in air in the sense of being surrounded by the mixture of gases which envelopes our planet, but not in the air, which would mean towards the sky.
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