Hypothesis: Does Sand Or Water Heat Up The Fastest?

Submitted By ehaltom
Words: 611
Pages: 3

Lab Write Up
Hypothesis:
Does sand or water heat up the fastest?
The hypothesis is that sand will heat up faster than water. This is because of specific heat. Specific heat is a physical property of matter that determines how much energy is needed to raise the temperature of a substance. Water is high in specific heat, meaning it will take more energy to change the temperature. On the other hand, sand has less specific heat, so it takes less energy to change the temperature.
Experiment: (See lab sheet)
In this experiment, there is a control and also variables. The control variable is the air. Also, there is an independent and dependent variable. The independent variable is the time that the sand and water are placed under the light. This is because the time is set by the experimenter. The dependent variable is the temperature. This is because, however long the sand and water is set under the lamp, it will determine the temperature of the sand and water.
Analysis:
Starting out in this experiment, the original temperatures were for the sand, 25 degrees Celsius, the water, 23 degrees Celsius, and the air was 22 degrees Celsius. All throughout the experiment to the first 30 minutes, sand was always the warmest. Air and water had mostly gradual changes of temperature to the 30 minute mark, while sand was more sporadic, at most going up 8 degrees. For the rest of the 30 minutes when the lamp was turned off, the sand held the heat longer, the water’s degrees dropping relatively more rapid. At the end of the 60 minutes, the water and sand were both back to where they started temperature wise; the sand at 25 degrees and the water at 23 degrees. Also at the end of the 60 minutes, the air had the highest temperature at 27 degrees. Also during the first 5 minutes of turning the lamp off, here was the most dramatic change of temperatures in the sand and the water. On average up to the 30 minute mark, the air would go up 3.2 degrees, the sand would go up 3.3 degrees, and lastly, the water went up 2.8 degrees.
Conclusion:
The hypothesis was that sand will heat up faster than water. This is because of specific heat. Specific heat is how much energy is needed to raise the