Sea Breeze/Land Breeze
Grade Level/Subject: Science/Intermediate
Audience: All grades.
Objective: The students will identify that water heats and cool more slowly than soil.
Materials: 100 watt lamp, thermometer, tray of sand, and a bowl of water.
Procedure: Explain to the class that wind is caused by the uneven heating of the earth's surfaces. Explain that this most apparent on the coast. Tell the students that water and soil heat and cool at different rates. Have the students predict which cools and heats faster/slower. Then, measure the temperature of the sand, and time how long it takes to raise the sand a given number of degrees. Then time how long it takes to cool back down, while you are heating the water. Have the students record the data in comparison to their predictions. Discuss the implications i.e. cool air is denser and higher in pressure to warm air, and high pressure moves toward lower pressure, and this movement of air is wind, of course. Then explain that the sun heats the soil during the day and the cooler ocean air creates a sea breeze, and in the evening the air is cooler over the land and a land breeze is created.
Lesson plan by Greg Handal.