Land and Water Experiment

In this lab we will attempt to answer the following question:

• Why are temperatures different near the coasts and inland?

Learning Targets

• Students will observe the differences between the rates at which land and water absorb heat energy.

Success Criteria

• I can describe the differences in the way that land and water absorb heat energy.

• You may notice that the average temperatures near the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts are higher than they are farther away from the coasts (or inland.)

Explanation (Scientific Reasoning)

• The reason we had the results that were observed in both experiments is because water has a higher Specific Heat Capacity than land.
  • Specific Heat Capacity is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1℃.
    • Water takes longer to heat up and cool down because it has a high specific heat capacity.
    • The sand takes less time to heat up and cools down faster because it has a lower specific heat capacity.
    • The balloon with water in it will not pop because the water is absorbing the heat energy.
• The coasts are much warmer than inland areas because of how close they are to water. The water retains the energy that it absorbs from the sun for a much longer time.

Add the Following Term to Your Science Notebook:

• Specific Heat Capacity - the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1℃