Why does soil cool down quicker than water?

Answer 1

Soil does not have a higher specific heat than water.

Specific heat capacity, also known simply as specific heat (Symbol: C or c) is the measure of the heat energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one Kelvin (or degree Celsius). Water has a specific heat of 1 calorie / gram / degree C.

The specific heat of dry is soil is ~ 0.2 calorie / gram / degree C or ~ 5 times lower than the specific heat of water. The specific heat of moist soil is the weighted average of the water and mineral components of the soil .

Answer 2

Water has a high specific heat.

In English that means that it takes more heat energy to raise the temperature of water than it does for most other things. It works both ways ... it's as hard to lower water temp as it it to raise it.

Answer 3

The soil would seem to absorb the heat from the sun faster and become warm.

This has got pretty much to do with the colour of the soil.

Darker colours absorb more of the heat and light from the sun, where as lighter colours reflect more and does not absorb as much.

Water however starts off by reflecting quite a bit, but the sun radiation penetrates a lot deeper, thereby absorbing much more energy from the sun.

In soil, only the upper layer benefit from the sun rays and the heat is distributed very slowly downwards.

In water, the sun rays heat up a lot of water at the same time hence this works pretty slow. Water does however absorb more energy than soil alone.

Mixing them both and you benefit from the waters ability to distribute the heat fast and the dark colour of the soil to absorb a lot of heat fast.

If making this an experiment:

100 liters of water in a square basin 10 centimeters deep. (100 liters equal 100 kilo).

100 kilo of very dry soil in a square basin with same dimensions as the basin of water. the thickness would be a lot more than 10 centimeters due to less density.

Place both basins in direct sunlight at mid day and they would receive the same amount of sun.

I am then pretty sure that the water will be evenly quite warm within an hour or two.

The soil would become very hot on top. This will radiate a lot of the heat away. Even after 2 hours, the soil would be cool at the bottom because the dry soil also work as an insulator.

The top soil would of course be a lot warmer than the water would be, but the lower layers of the soil would be a lot colder than the water.

My best bet is on the water, but most people would make the bet on the soil because they only think about the very top layer of it.

The experiment would be dependent on other factors too.

Colour of the water basin for a start. I would paint the bottom black, but then the experiment might not be valid. It would help the water to absorb the energy.

Answer 4

soil will heat faster ......because it has more water.

Answer 5

Soil has gaps between particles which are poor at conducting thermal energy. Soil also contains organic matter which provides some measure of insulation.

Answer 6

Water has a higher heat capacity than soil, and that is why large bodies of water have a moderating influence on neighboring land. Water takes longer to heat up, and longer to cool down.

Answer 7

Yes it does cool faster because it is on land

Answer 8

The particles in water are all pressed together and in soil, the particles are more spread out

Answer 9

Sand and water reflect sunlight thus less energy is absorbed.

Answer 10

I'm guessing its because the soil might have moisture in it, there for it would take longer for it to warm up than the already dry sand.