Heating Earth Materials

On Wednesday afternoon, we completed our second investigation, Heating Earth Materials, in our Solar Energy science unit. We tested four earth materials; water, sand, dry soil and wet soil. Using the heat from the sun (which we had lots of), we measured the temperatures of the materials trying to determine which materials heated up the fastest and the slowest and then which materials cooled the fastest and the slowest. From our results, we noticed that water has a special property. Water takes a long time to heat up, but maintains its heat longer, too! What an interesting investigation and fun to read our independent reading books outside while waiting to read the temperatures in 4 minute intervals.