Homework Statement::
Sand is rough and black so it is a good absorber and radiator of heat depending on temperature. During the day, sand's radiation of the sun's energy superheats the air and causes temperatures to soar. But, at night most of the heat in the sand quickly radiates into the air and there is no sunlight to reheat it, leaving the sand and its surroundings colder than before
Relevant Concepts::
- Good Absorber is a good emitter
- It acts as an absorber when at lower temperatures and as an emitter when at higher temperature than surroundings
But I learnt in Geography that the temperature of a place is due to the temperature of the air around it It said that the temperature of air is influenced by terrestrial radiation and never solar radiation Which also explains the lapse of temperature with altitude and the inversion of temperature gradient at night(sometimes)
From that point of view
Terrestrial radiation from sand should actually warm the air up at night
I had this explanation
At day Sand heats up and acts as radiator making the days hot And at night it should be cold because the sand acts as an absorber now absorbing all heat from the warm air
But this different from my text book explanation [{Which seems to suggest that it is the sand that is hot at day and cold at night and sand affects temperature(rather than air)}]