Criterion A: Aims and Hypothesis

    Aims: Investigate and determine the specific heat or the rate of heating of variation between the continental and water properties on the earth. The study will help us understand the unequal cooling or heating of the dry land and water and their impact on the global climate.

    Hypothesis: In order emphasize study this phenomena, I will be testing the following hypothesis:

                                   Soil will have a higher rate of heating than water.

This hypothesis is based on the theory of thermodynamics and the concept of specific heat. The theory of thermodynamic is the field of science that  includes the relationship between heat and other kinds of energy. The specific heat, also called the specific heat capacity, is a physical property of the matter. It is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit of mass of a substance by one degree Celsius. Different substance have different specific heat because of the difference of their molecule structure. Take water as an example, because the structure of its molecule, it requires a much more amount of heat to raise one Celsius than the soil or many other substance in the earth. So, it has a higher specific heat than soil.

Criterion B: Methods of data collection

                                                           Methods of data collection

      The field work was carried out in Upper Canada College on Wednesday, Jan, 5th, 2011. The equipments we used in the field work are electric scale, 2 measuring cups, 1 tablespoon, soil, water, 1 laptop, 2 vernier thermometers and 1 USB cable. 

      The following are the procedures for the field work.
1. Prepare two tables for recording the weight and the change of temperature.
2. Get two plastic cups, and use the electric scale to measure the weight of both cups, and fill in the table.
3. Add a full cup of soil and water into the cup, and measure the weight again, fill in the table.
4. Calculate the weight of the water and soil by subtracting the weights gained second time by that of the first time, fill in the table.
5. Place both of the soil cup and water cup outside in order to match the temperatures of soil and water.
6. Bring in the soil and water sample, use logger pro to record the change of temperature. Record temperature every single 30 second in the table.
7. Use Microsoft Excel, and copy the data and then create the diagram.

Picture taken of the field work

Step 1: Measuring of the empty cup

Step 2: Collect soil

Step 3: Measuring of the water cup

 Step 6: Measure Temperature

Step 6: Measure temperature

Step 6: Measure the temperature

Criterion C: Data Presentation and Processing

Data Presentation and Processing

 1. Diagram

Scanned form of the hand sketch graph

 

Excel Software Graph

Criterion D: Interpretation and Analysis

                                         Criterion D: Interpretation and analysis

1a. Soil sample showed the greater change in total temperature. Because it has a higher rate of heating, or lower specific heat. Water showed the less change in total temperature. Because comparing to the soil, it has a lower rate of heating, or higher specific heat.

1b.

Graph 

Graph

SOIL
For soil, the temperature change is equal to the final temperature subtracted by the initial temperature: 22.7-17.4=5.3°C
 The change in temperature/the total mass of soil             =    change in temperature per gram of the soil
                  5.3 °C               /           304.2g                         =               0.0174 °C/g

WATER
For water, the temperature change is to the final temperature subtracted by the initial temperature:
19.3-17.3=2 °C
The change in temperature/the total mass of water=change in temperature per gram of the water
                      2 °C     /          232.9g         =                          0.00859°C/g
1c. Soil heats up faster than water. It shows that water has a higher specific heat because it requires less change in temperature to gain the same energy.

1d. The cooling behavior should be the same as the heating behavior of the substance. So, water should cool up much slower than soil. Since the specific heat of the water and soil do not change at all.

2a. If the line is steeper than the other one, then it has a higher rate of heating, or a lower specific heat than the other one. If the line is gentler than the other one, it has a lower rate of heating, or a higher specific heat than the other one. The steeper one represents the heating rate of water, the gentler one represents the heating rate of soil.

2b. The temperature of the soil would be 26 Celsius after 15 minutes of heating. The temperature of the water would be 20.5 Celsius after 15 minutes of heating.  The prediction depends on the line of best fit.

2b. Diagram with the line of best fit

2c. The temperature of the soil after 20 minutes of heating would be 29 Celsius. The temperature of the water after 20 minutes of heating would be 21.5 Celsius. The prediction is based on the following graph.

2c. Diagram with the line of best fit

2d. The specific heat of the each material will not change at all because the specific heat of different matters does not change at all. It is not affected by the any factors except the substance itself.


3a. Both the sea area and the land masses are heated up by sun. So, both of the sea area and the land masses receive the same amount of heat energy. Based on the investigation of the fieldwork, we found out that the rate of heating of the water property is lower than the rate of heating of the land masses. So, it is obvious that land mass heats up faster than the sea.

3b. If air over the warmer area rises, creating a lower atmospheric pressure, then the surrounding air would move inward in order to take up the space that the rising air has left. This phenomenon occurs because the surrounding air is pushed inwardly due to the pressure from the side.

Hand draw sketch by Bruce Chi

3c. The air around the sea and the land mass starts with the same temperature. When it is sunny, the sun spreads out its heat equally to both of the sea and the land mass. Since the soil has a higher rate of heating than that of the sea, so its temperature is rising faster than that of sea. As a result, the warmer air around the land mass would go up which leave out a space for the air around the sea to take up. Because of the pressure on the side of the sea, the air around the sea is pushed inwardly to take up the space left by the rising air.  

      Asian Monsoon is a monsoonal flow that carries out from the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean to the East Asia Continent. It affects one third of the world population and also many East Asia countries such as China, Japan, Korea. The monsoonal flow is created by the temperature difference between the Pacific Ocean and the Asia Continent. During the summer, the sun heats up the Pacific Ocean and the East Asia Continent with the same heat energy. Continent heats up faster since it has a higher specific heat than the sea water. The air around the continent is warmer than that around the sea, so it rises up which leave some space for the air around the sea to take up. So, the air around the sea travels towards the continent, which creates the Monsoonal flow.

Hand sketch by Bruce Chi

4a. As we found out from this lab, the soil which makes up the land mass has much higher rate of heating than that of the water which makes up the ocean. Inferior parts of the United States is mostly made of soil, so it heats up much faster than that of coastal area since the coastal area is close to the sea. So, the yearly temperature ranges in the inferior parts of the United States is much more significant than that of coastal area.

4b. In the winter, the two regions receives the same amount of cold air. Comparing to the Fairbanks, Anchorage is located more towards the center of the land continent. In other words, Fairbanks locates closer to the coastal area than Anchorage. Because the soil has a higher rate of cooling than that of water, so the temperature cools down faster than that of Anchorage. As a result, Fairbanks is 20~50 degrees colder than Anchorage.

4c. The temperature for London, England on Jan.18th is -1°C according to the weather report by the Weather Background. The temperature for Moscow, Russia on Jan 18th is -15°C according to the weather report by the Weather Background. The temperature differs significantly from London to Moscow. The reason behind this phenomena is associated with the distance of the two places relatively to the coastal area. The distance between London and the English Channel (Coast near the British Isles) is 54.5 miles according to Google Earth. The distance between Moscow and the Black Sea is around 706.32 miles according to the website mapcrow.com. Obviously, the distance between the coastal area to the center of Moscow is much longer than that to the center of London. The air around the coastal area is much colder than the air around the land mass in the winter since the specific heat of water is much higher than that of soil. It means that it takes much longer for the air around the water to heat up or cool down than the air near the land masses.

 5c. Since the specific heat of soil is lower than that of water. It requires less amount of heat to change its temperature per unit mass. So, it heats up or cool down much faster than that of the water, which makes the yearly temperature of the inferior part of United States which mostly composed of soil ranges more significantly than that of the coastal area which mostly composed of water.