To determine which substance – granite or nickel – will have a lower temperature after being placed in the sun for a few minutes, we should examine their specific heats.
Specific heat is the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one degree Celsius. A higher specific heat means that the substance requires more energy to increase its temperature, while a lower specific heat means the substance heats up more quickly with the same amount of energy.
From the given specific heats:
- Granite has a specific heat of 0.79 J/g°C.
- Nickel has a specific heat of 0.44 J/g°C.
Here are the steps to understand the result:
1. Specific Heat and Temperature Change:
A substance with a lower specific heat will heat up more rapidly because it requires less energy to increase its temperature.
2. Comparing Granite and Nickel:
- Granite has a higher specific heat (0.79 J/g°C) compared to nickel (0.44 J/g°C).
- Therefore, granite will require more energy to experience the same temperature increase as nickel.
3. Temperature Increase Over Time:
When both granite and nickel slabs are exposed to the same amount of solar energy:
- Nickel, with its lower specific heat, will absorb the energy and increase in temperature more quickly.
- Granite, with its higher specific heat, will absorb the same energy but will have a smaller increase in temperature in the same time period.
Thus, after a few minutes under the sun, the temperature of the nickel slab will increase more quickly than that of the granite slab because nickel requires less energy to increase its temperature. As a result, nickel is the substance that is likely to show a lower temperature change after a few minutes because it heats up faster.
Therefore, the correct answer is:
"Nickel, because it requires more energy to increase its temperature."
