Science Project _ Heat Retention- does fresh water hold heat longer than salt water? How does water compare to land and what effect does this have on the weather? What factors affect the cooling of land?

Heat Retention
Does fresh water hold heat longer than salt water? How does water compare to land and what effect does this have on the weather? What factors affect the cooling of land?

Introduction

If you’ve ever been out in the hot summer sun for any length of time, you know that it makes you pretty darn hot. The sands in the beach gets very hot and walking bare foot becomes a painful experience. While sands in the beach are hot enough to cook an egg, water may still be cold. After sunset sands lose their heat very fast while the water is still warm. Why does the sand become hot or loses heat so fast, while water is much slower in gaining and loosing heat? Does such a difference affect the climate? We are hoping to find the answer to some of these questions during this project.

Project description
In this project you will design an experiment to compare the heat retention of water, salt water and sand. Then you will use the result of your experiments to explain the climate of coastal regions.

Details of this project
More information or support for this project is available for the members of ScienceProject.com web site. Material needed for the experiment can be obtained locally or may be ordered on-line.