Water reaching an ocean beach is mostly at or near the temperature the deeper water offshore, which has a high heat capacity and does not cool off much overnight, nor get as hot as the land during summer days. In other words, in summer the ocean is colder than land in the daytime.
The sand at the beach is effectively heated by sunlight passing through the water. (Water near the surface is not as efficiently heated because of ts transparency). Because of the low thermal conductivity of sand, the energy absorbed from sunlight only has to heat a thin layer near the surface. The sand surface at a shallow shoreline is closer to the hot air temperature, although the waves help cool it down somewhat.
5.imagine you are at the beach on a very hot day. you walk toward the water. the sand is eextremly hot. when you reach the water, you find that the water is much cooler than sand.
b)predict what the air temprature would be relative to the sand and water temp..
explain your thinking using the term heat capacity.
1 answer
1 answer