Education Technology


A Day at the Beach - Adventure 9

Activity Overview

Students compare the heating rates of wet sand and dry sand and study the effect of evaporation on heating rates. They create, interpret and analyze graphs of data. They also relate slope to rate of change.

Before the Activity

  • Connect CBL 2™ to the calculator.
  • Plug the temperature sensor into channel 1 of the CBL 2
  • Launch the DataMate program
  • See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity
  • Print pages 58- 59 from the attached PDF file for your class
  • Transfer files to student calculators using TI-Navigator™  "send to class" feature
  • During the Activity

    Distribute the pages to your class.

    Follow the Activity procedures:

  • Make two trays of 500 ml dry sand
  • Add enough water in one tray to dampen the sand
  • Keep the initial temperatures of the sand in the two containers the same
  • Bury the end of the temperature sensor 0.5 cm below the surface of the dry sand
  • Place the heat lamp 20 cm above the tray of sand
  • Measure the temperature at 30 second intervals for 5 1/2 minutes
  • Repeat the same steps with wet sand
  • Graph the temperature data
  • Slopes of the lines on the graph represent the rate of heating of the sand
  • The steeper slope of the dry sand indicates that the rate of heating is faster than the wet sand with the less steep slope
  • Understand how adding water keeps the temperature of the sand cooler for longer
  • After the Activity

    Students analyze the results and answer the questions in the worksheet

    Review student results:

  • As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
  • Re-teach concepts as necessary