Specific heat capacity plays an important role here. It is defined as the amount of heat needed to change the temperature of a unit mass of the substance by 1 °C. It is also known as thermal Inertia which means the resistance of a substance to any change in its temperature. A relatively small amount of water absorbs a large quantity of heat for a correspondingly small temperature rise as water has a very high capacity for storing energy. Water also takes a long time to cool as it has a tendency to resist changes in temperature. For its higher heat capacity, it takes longer time to warm in presence of hot sunlight and longer time to cool on a cold night. Sands heat capacity is very low. Therefore, it warms quickly in presence of sunlight and cools quickly at night.
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