Why are sand and water different temperatures at the beach?

Show Notes

Melissa and Jam discuss the difference of temperatures, aka specific heat.

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What is Chemistry For Your Life?

A podcast that helps you understand the fascinating chemistry hidden in your everyday life.

Have you ever wondered why onions make you cry? Or how soap gets your hands clean? What really is margarine, or why do trees change colors in the fall? Melissa is a chemist, and to answer these questions she started a podcast, called Chemistry for your life!

In each episode Melissa explains the chemistry behind one of life’s mysteries to Jam, who is definitely not a chemist, but she explains it in a way that is easy to understand, and totally fascinating.

If you’re someone who loves learning new things, or who wonders about the way the world works, then give us a listen.

Melissa: 00:00

Yay. Chemistry for your life is finally getting off the ground. Whoo. To celebrate, Jam and I are doing a T shirt giveaway.

Jam: 00:08

You can enter by going to Apple Podcasts or Itunes, rating, and writing a short review, and we will announce the winners on August 15th.

Melissa: 00:17

Good luck. Hey, guys. I'm Melissa.

Jam: 00:30

I'm Jam.

Melissa: 00:31

I'm a chemist.

Jam: 00:32

And I'm not.

Melissa: 00:34

And this is chemistry for your life.

Jam: 00:36

A podcast helping you understand the chemistry of everyday life.

Melissa: 00:39

Woo. How are you today, Jam?

Jam: 00:41

I'm pretty good. It feels like Like, it's been a year since we recorded last, but it actually has not.

Melissa: 00:49

It really does. So much has happened. Yeah. We got all our socials going. We got some followers.

Jam: 00:55

Yep. I got attacked by a bird, which was an interesting

Melissa: 00:59

Multiple times?

Jam: 01:00

Yeah. Multiple times. That's kinda the main thing I'm I'm thinking about is, like, what's since we last spoke, the last recorded or whatever.

Melissa: 01:07

Do you think do you think it's because of your hair looking like a bird's nest? I honestly Not that I think that your hair looks like a bird's nest, but, like, it's goodness material.

Jam: 01:15

I feel like either that that I've had comfort in that being the reason. Like, oh, yeah. Just trying to make some house for its family. Or Or it's like maybe that bird just kind of attacks everybody that comes near. That's also fine.

Jam: 01:28

Those 2 options are fine. It's like, if it's everybody and I'm not discriminated against Or if it's like, my hair looks like good material for something that birds need to do, that's, like, a good thing for their families. But if it's some other option, like either That bird just doesn't like me or something, then I'm I I'm not as

Melissa: 01:46

happy with it. Like it isn't that it attacks everyone because you're with other people and it attack to you every time.

Jam: 01:52

That's true. But yeah.

Melissa: 01:54

I think it's you. I think you're the problem.

Jam: 01:57

Maybe it's like, There's people coming near. I gotta get them. Also, that one looks like he's got some pretty good nest building material on top of his head. If you're wondering why we're saying that's because my hair is blonde and kinda fuzzy. So Yeah.

Jam: 02:11

That's if you don't know what I look like, then that's that helps it make sense.

Melissa: 02:14

A key a key point. Looks a little bit like maybe, like, some good hay or draw.

Jam: 02:18

Yeah. How about you? How's your week been?

Melissa: 02:21

Well, this weekend, my sister came in from out of town. She's also a scientist.

Jam: 02:25

Nice.

Melissa: 02:26

She does, Sea level rise work. She's, like, a good science communicator. She's way better at science, I think,

Jam: 02:33

than me. Crazy. I've heard that it's getting nuts over on the West Coast now, Sea level rise

Melissa: 02:39

wise? I I don't know, but we could ask her.

Jam: 02:42

Yeah. We should yeah. That's a good topic for later. Although, it's not chemistry. Right?

Melissa: 02:45

She's on the list. I mean, we sort of talked about, when she was here about what she could do on there. I think she's I think she'd be a good guest to have. And then the reason she came in town was because it was my nephew's very first Birthday.

Jam: 02:57

Nice.

Melissa: 02:57

And I made him some little cakes, and then he just touched the frosting and sort of looked at his hand. Like, what is this? What am I supposed to do with this? And so he didn't smash it at all, but it was really cute.

Jam: 03:06

Has he had much sugar before? Like

Melissa: 03:08

Yeah. He loves ice cream.

Jam: 03:10

Okay.

Melissa: 03:10

And so does his dad, my brother, loves ice cream, and so did our grandpa. So I think he's, like, in the family genes.

Jam: 03:18

Sometimes I feel like when, like, there's kids that have their 1st birthday or whatever, It's almost like that's also the time they discover sugar. Yeah. It's like, woah. Well, I mean, like, something that that sugary. They probably had sugar, but, like, something that sugary.

Jam: 03:30

Kinda like that scene in Telsa one Space Odyssey when the, like, monkey ape person discovers that you can use A bone is a weapon? It's like this discovery of, like, evolutionary

Melissa: 03:42

I've never seen that.

Jam: 03:43

It's like it's pretty incredible. But it's this scene of, like, evolutionary, kinda taking the next step. It's like the 1st tool, basically. But, like, think about all these monkeys

Melissa: 03:53

baby's life.

Jam: 03:53

Suddenly having the ability to, like, use a weapon. But Yes. In this case, it's like a child learning that sugar is a thing. And I'm like, oh my gosh. There's so many possibilities.

Melissa: 04:04

This changes everything.

Jam: 04:06

I'm going to be unstoppable.

Melissa: 04:09

So that was it. That was, my weekend. It was good.

Jam: 04:12

Awesome.

Melissa: 04:13

I'm really excited to record today.

Jam: 04:15

What is the thing that I'm gonna be trying to learn today?

Melissa: 04:22

Okay. So you're gonna learn about specific heat, which in some ways is a little bit less complicated than last week, and in some ways is a little bit more complicated than last week.

Jam: 04:32

Okay. But

Melissa: 04:32

we're just sorta gonna brush the surface. I'm gonna give you the gen chem level understanding

Jam: 04:38

of it. Okay. I've even though I've taken some chemistry Courses or whatever. Like, I had to take at least 1 for in college, I took it, obviously, in high school. I don't remember this phrase at all, and I don't have any recollection of anything.

Jam: 04:51

So I'm starting with what feels like a blank slate on specific heat.

Melissa: 04:55

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Okay. So All you need to know about specific heat

Jam: 05:00

Okay.

Melissa: 05:01

Is that it's the amount of heat Mhmm. Required to raise 1 gram of a substance by 1 degree Celsius.

Jam: 05:12

Okay. So it's different for different things?

Melissa: 05:16

It's different for different things. Mhmm. And the reason why it's different for different things is a little complicated.

Jam: 05:23

Okay.

Melissa: 05:24

But the Big thing that we all we teach our general chemistry students is that different substances require different amounts of heat to raise the temperature by 1 degree.

Jam: 05:35

Interesting. Okay. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense, but it's just not something I've ever had to really think about. Like Right.

Jam: 05:40

I'm not really comparing, like, You know, this thing to this thing, I'm thinking, oh, man. It's taking longer to keep this up. I just haven't really thought about it.

Melissa: 05:49

Yeah. And most people I mean, You've experienced this.

Jam: 05:52

Mhmm.

Melissa: 05:52

I know you've experienced this in your everyday life in a myriad of situations. Everyone has.

Jam: 05:58

Okay.

Melissa: 05:58

I'm gonna give you one example, but I want you to give me an example back. So one example is you're at the beach.

Jam: 06:04

Okay.

Melissa: 06:05

And the sand is hot, hot, hot.

Jam: 06:07

Yes.

Melissa: 06:08

And the water is not not not. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That's because sand requires Less heat to raise the temperature than water.

Jam: 06:21

Oh, yeah. Interesting. But they're both, like, in the hot sun, but, Okay. You're right. It's like a drastic difference.

Melissa: 06:26

The They're both taking in the same amount of heat.

Jam: 06:29

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 06:29

But it requires More heat to raise water by the same temperature than it does to raise sand.

Jam: 06:38

So you'd have to have, like, A super hot sun on the water and then, like, the same sun on the the sand to get them to be equal, would be impossible, obviously.

Melissa: 06:48

You'd have to have super hot sun putting lots of heat into the body of water in a very chill sun putting heat into the sand.

Jam: 06:59

Okay. Man, interesting.

Melissa: 07:00

You don't have them in different ovens.

Jam: 07:02

Yeah. That's pretty weird.

Melissa: 07:04

I think it's intuitive because you have experienced this in your everyday life. Like, you've experienced it at the beach, whatever. But I think if I were to say heat does not equal temperature and putting the same amount of heat into something will raise Two different things by a different amount of temperature.

Jam: 07:22

Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:22

That is not intuitive. Right. So you you know and you have Experience putting the same amount of heat into 2 different things Mhmm. And it changing by different amount of temperature. Like, I gave you this hand example.

Melissa: 07:34

Yeah. But That's not a thing that I think most people think about in terms of heat does not equal temperature. So so that's the basics of specific heat.

Jam: 07:45

Okay. Do you

Melissa: 07:46

have any questions before you try to explain it back to me?

Jam: 07:52

I don't know if I do. I think it it You've explained it simply enough. I'm guessing just, like, way deeper than one could dive. But right now, it's just, like, enough to To understand I'm I'm gonna take a crack at explaining it back to you.

Melissa: 08:07

Okay. Yeah. There is there is way deeper

Jam: 08:09

Yeah.

Melissa: 08:10

Thanks. And, actually, I had to go on an adventure yesterday to sort of see if it was worth trying to explain to you guys. So me and my organic chemistry colleagues got ourselves really confused. But it was it was a fun and good learning experience, but I don't Think it's worth it to try to explain why different things have different specific heats. It's we don't teach gen chem students that.

Melissa: 08:34

I think for now, it's just enough to know Yeah. The different things have different specific heats.

Jam: 08:40

Okay. Sand and water are super different in a lot of ways. Mhmm. And even if they're in the same conditions, like same weather, same heat source on them Mhmm. Because they're They are different even if even if you take 1 gram of each of them, it takes different amounts of heat to raise Their temperatures.

Melissa: 09:00

Mhmm.

Jam: 09:01

Like Yes. It would take, even though they're under the same conditions, because it requires Different amounts of heat to raise their temperatures by significant amounts?

Melissa: 09:10

Mhmm.

Jam: 09:11

They're gonna have different temperatures even though they're in exactly the same conditions. Yes. Constantly. They're always in there. If it's cold at a beach, it's cold for both of them, but they're gonna feel differently.

Melissa: 09:22

Exactly.

Jam: 09:22

If it's hot at the beach, they're they're both in the same Conditions all the time if you go to the same beach or whatever.

Melissa: 09:27

Mhmm.

Jam: 09:28

But they're never so one thing that never changes is that it requires different amounts of heat to change their Temperature.

Melissa: 09:35

Yes. So that's sand and water. I want you to give me a different example. Now that you've explained it, you got it. You understand specific heat.

Jam: 09:43

Think I've got 1.

Melissa: 09:43

I'm gonna keep okay. Before you give me that, I'm gonna keep the sand and water and give you another example of how that impacts your life.

Jam: 09:50

Okay.

Melissa: 09:51

In deserts, it's very hot during the

Jam: 09:55

day Mhmm.

Melissa: 09:56

And very cold at night. Uh-huh. And that's because deserts are mostly made up of sand.

Jam: 10:03

Yeah.

Melissa: 10:03

And so they have a very low specific heat. So they take in a lot of heat and their temperature goes up. But as soon as the sun goes down and they're not getting heat put in Mhmm. They're losing heat very quickly also.

Jam: 10:15

So Got it. Okay.

Melissa: 10:16

Yeah. Okay. Coastal communities have a pretty constant temperature.

Jam: 10:19

Mhmm.

Melissa: 10:19

They don't have big swings the way deserts do. Yeah. And that's because they're surrounded by mostly water. Mhmm. And water is taking in a lot of heat and giving off a lot of heat without its temperature changing.

Jam: 10:31

Got it.

Melissa: 10:33

So specific heat impacts the way it feels at the beach, but it also impacts the, I don't know if climate or weather is the right word, but the temperatures that you're experiencing on a day to day basis based on where you live.

Jam: 10:46

I was thinking about one that, that we experience A lot not near a beach that, like, anyone at their house Okay. Experiences. It's really similar, though. It's kinda cheating because I just took your same thing and just brought it here. So while I was a kid, what we would do is we would stand on the driveway Mhmm.

Jam: 11:03

Barefooted and, like, see how long we could stand it, But then we jump into the grass. And the grass and the driveway are under the same conditions as well just like the Beaches, but couldn't be more different. The grass felt like totally normal. It didn't feel hot at all. Mhmm.

Jam: 11:22

And it was like, They just it almost felt like it doesn't really, like, get affected very much, period. Like, it just felt like, okay. Grass Grass is pretty much always the same temperature. I guess, it's just, like, snow on or something. But so we would do that to see how long we could stand it.

Jam: 11:38

And that's one that Is the same, like, now even, where it's like

Melissa: 11:42

That's a great example. I hadn't even thought about that. And it's probably because Plants have a high water content.

Jam: 11:48

Yeah.

Melissa: 11:48

So they their specific heat is closer to pure water than Yeah. Like, concrete, which is sort of like sand.

Jam: 11:56

Yeah. And That's a good one. And it say seems like it'd be the same even in winter. Like, the concrete would be really cold.

Melissa: 12:03

Mhmm.

Jam: 12:03

And, like, You could dip into the grass as long as it, like, wasn't, like Mhmm. Didn't have snow on or something like that. It would probably feel pretty normal.

Melissa: 12:12

Yeah.

Jam: 12:12

Like, it probably wouldn't feel very Cold.

Melissa: 12:16

That is a great example. I was thinking you would go because you love coffee jam. You love coffee so much like probably more than any single person that I know.

Jam: 12:26

That's, an honor.

Melissa: 12:28

It's just a fact.

Jam: 12:31

To me, it's an honor.

Melissa: 12:33

But think about how quickly your metal electric Your teapot or whatever gets hot. Yeah. But it takes longer for the water to match that same temperature.

Jam: 12:42

True that. Yeah. I didn't think about that. I was thinking, like Like, I've I know like, I was thinking about connectivity in, like Mhmm. Just metal being A piece of that.

Jam: 12:54

And I was thinking like, oh, that might be, like, a totally different deal. Like, it might not really apply to

Melissa: 13:01

No. It it that is that's I mean, the specific heat is Yeah. Just the measurement of how quickly.

Jam: 13:08

Yep. So, yeah, even if there's something that's, like, really conductive or not, it's still worth measuring.

Melissa: 13:13

Yes.

Jam: 13:13

Got it.

Melissa: 13:14

So you've seen it when your metal Pot heats up faster than the water

Jam: 13:20

inside of it.

Melissa: 13:20

They're putting the same amount of heat. They're experiencing the same conditions. There is a level of One's directly on the burner and the other is not. But and then the other thing I was thinking about, because I was thinking about coffee, I was like, what is jam Gonna be able to think about in terms of specific heat, and I was thinking coffee examples. And you have these cool glass mugs that almost look like Beakers to me as a scientist.

Jam: 13:46

I love this.

Melissa: 13:47

And then you have ceramic mugs. Uh-huh. The glass mugs are hotter to the touch than the ceramic ones

Jam: 13:53

Yeah.

Melissa: 13:53

When the same coffee is in them.

Jam: 13:55

That's such a good point. It also

Melissa: 13:57

At the same temperature coffee.

Jam: 13:58

The glass ones, I'm not I don't I haven't done any, Like measurements at all? Because I don't even know how it would I think the glass ones lose heat faster.

Melissa: 14:06

Yeah. If you have a specific heat, it has to do with taking in and losing heat.

Jam: 14:10

So Whenever I put coffee in a ceramic mug I like the glasses more, but if I'm not gonna drink it very quickly, I don't use the glass ones because, it will, To me, it seemed like it cools down faster. Like yeah.

Melissa: 14:24

Chemistry is all around you.

Jam: 14:26

Man, it is.

Melissa: 14:27

You Got it. You understand specific heat, and you gave me examples that I didn't even think of.

Jam: 14:32

I nailed it.

Melissa: 14:33

You nailed it.

Jam: 14:33

But I didn't do the coffee one like you thought I would. I wish I Had. But I think if anything can have a coffee example, then I will definitely understand it. So maybe it's like

Melissa: 14:42

And lots of people understand coffee because lots of people I mean, Lots of people don't do coffee like you do, but lots of people do coffee.

Jam: 14:48

Yeah. Yeah. If they know what's good for them, they do coffee. If they

Melissa: 14:51

know what's good for them, then they should do coffee. Sweet. Great. So that's it. That is Specific Heat.

Melissa: 14:58

And now you understand Specific Heat, and you've been able to think of examples. And, hopefully, you'll go around in your life and be thinking about that while you experience things that accept and release heat differently.

Jam: 15:10

I definitely will.

Melissa: 15:12

Well, Jim, what was the most exciting thing that you learned

Jam: 15:16

in

Melissa: 15:16

that or what was most satisfying about learning about specific heat?

Jam: 15:22

Definitely satisfying to learn how applicable was to coffee. I think I think I just feel like my mind going about how many things there are like that. Like, the grass concrete, sand, water, kettle, and water. I was just like I think my mind just started going about, man, it's it's kinda everywhere. Like, everything's gonna have

Melissa: 15:41

that. In your body? Yep. You don't respond to big swings in temperature?

Jam: 15:46

Yeah. Which I'm thankful for, for sure.

Melissa: 15:48

Yeah. It's everywhere. Yeah. Chemistry really chemistry really is everywhere.

Jam: 15:54

Yeah. It's it's got us surrounded, really.

Melissa: 15:57

Mhmm. That's why I love it. Well, thank you guys so much for listening this week. I hope you learned a lot about specific heat too.

Jam: 16:06

We are totally open to suggestions for future episodes. Thanks for Melissa to teach me and you guys about. So you can find us on social media. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Gmail, and it's all the same. It's chem for your life on all of those.

Melissa: 16:22

Isn't that so exciting that we get that handle everywhere?

Jam: 16:24

Yeah. It's super simple.

Melissa: 16:26

And you can find us To subscribe on any of your favorite podcast apps, we're on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. And, also, if you rate, review, and subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcast, that really helps us to be able to share chemistry with more people.

Jam: 16:45

Thanks so much, guys.

Melissa: 16:46

Yeah. Thanks for coming. See you next week. This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and Jam Robinson. Then Jam Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to Autumn Kewissong who reviewed this episode.