Physics: Principles with Applications (7th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-32162-592-7
ISBN 13: 978-0-32162-592-2

Chapter 14 - Heat - Questions - Page 407: 12

Answer

Wet sand would have been recently cooled by water. It also experiences evaporative cooling.

Work Step by Step

Presumably the sand has been wetted recently by waves of cool ocean water washing over it. Water has a high heat capacity, so if a kg of water mixes with a kg of sand, the sand will cool more than the water warms. In other words, the wet beach sand is cooler than dry sand. There are also evaporative effects. Evaporation is a cooling process. As water evaporates from the wet sand, it cools its surroundings, including the sand itself.
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