The reason why the sand is hot and the water is cold on a hot sunny day on a beach is because

of specific heat of substance. Both of them has a different specific heat capacity that they absorb from
the sun. Specific heat is the measurable physical quantity that characterizes the amount of heat required
to change a body's temperature by a given amount. Specific heat is an intensive variable meaning that
an attribute belonging to a specific substance and not to any matter in general. The specific heat of a
substance is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of the substance by 1
degree Celsius.

The specific heat formula is:

q
Specific heat = m x ΔT

s = specific heat capacity (sometimes represented by the letter c, or Cs)

q = heat

m = mass

Δ T = change in temperature

Different substance have different heat capacity and liquid has a higher heat capacity than solid
or gas. Water tends to be more resistant to change of temperature than metals because they have
different heat capacity. Heat capacity the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of an object
by 1 degree celcius. In the International System of Units (SI), heat capacity is expressed in units of joules
J
per kelvin . heat capacity is an extensive variable because of the quantity of a particular substance or
K
matter is directly proportional to its heat capacity meaning that the bigger the matter, the bigger is its
resulting heat capacity.

The formula of heat capacity is:

Q
C=
ΔT
C= Heat capacity

Q= Heat

ΔT= Change in temperature

A calorimeter is a device used to measure the heat flow of a chemical reaction or physical change. The
process of measuring this heat is called calorimetry. Calorimeter is used in determining the heat capacity
of a substance. In determining the heat capacity of the calorimeter, the heat of the hot water is lost to
the cold water and the calorimeter. The heat that the cold water gained is equal to the heat that the hot
water loss. Any difference to the heat gained is because of the calorimeter.

Formula for heat capacity of calorimeter is:

Heat capacity (Ccal)= cal / ΔT
To get the heat changes for hot and cold water is:
qh= m x C x ΔTh qc = m x C x ΔTc
To get the heat gained by the calorimeter is:
q hot= -(q cold+q cal)
3JW Vezina (2014 April 28) “1.4 Heat Transfer, Specific Heat, and Calorimetry
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24402448

https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-2/pages/1-4-heat-transfer-specific-heat-and-
calorimetry

http://www.thermopedia.com/content/1140/
1Halliday, David; Resnick, Robert (2013). Fundamentals of Physics. Wiley. p. 524.

2unus A. Cengel and Michael A. Boles (2010). Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach (7th Edition).
McGraw-Hill. ISBN 007-352932-X.

4Saeid Mokhatab, ... John Y. Mak (2019) Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing (Fourth
Edition) Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-
sciences/calorimeter
5Young; Geller (2008). Young and Geller College Physics (8th ed.). Pearson Education. ISBN 0805392181.