Question

Discuss the role of high specific heat capacity of water with reference to climate in coastal areas.
A. The days are cooler and the nights are warmer
B. The Days are warmer and the nights are cooler
C. Days and nights both are cooler
D. None of these

Answer 1

Hint:Specific heat is defined as the ratio of amount to heat required to raise the temperature of an object by one degree to the amount of heat required to raise the same amount of water to one degree. Specific heat capacity is represented by $\Delta Q = mc\Delta T$ Where $\Delta Q$ is the heat energy, $m$ is the mass of the object or the substance, $c$ is the specific heat and $\Delta T$ is the change in temperature.

Complete answer:
Let us know what specific heat is. Specific heat is defined by the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of $1gram$ of a substance to $1^\circ C$. Now we want to know what factors this quantity depends on. The factors are change in temperature, mass of the system, the substance and the phase of the substance.

Water has the highest specific heat capacity which means it takes more energy to warm a gram of water. That’s why oceans take a long time to change their temperature whereas land can heat up very quickly due to this reason air which is in contact with the ocean will be much cooler than the air sitting above the land.

Therefore, in the coastal areas, near the sea shore develops a large difference in the temperature between the land and the sea. Due to this difference convection current currents are generated hence cool air blows from sea to the land leading to make the nights cooler.

Hence, option B is correct.

Note:Water has the highest specific heat capacity. If water did not have this highest capacity then the temperature of earth would change violently with changing the day into night and vice versa. Coastal regions experience moderate temperature throughout the year.