Continue to read the temperature in each bowl after each minute for another five minutes. Draw a graph to show how the temperature changed in each of the bowls. You can plot the temperatures in both bowls on the same graph. Let's say you wanted to build a house that will store the energy of the sun in its walls so that it was warm during the night. Explanation Much of our weather is due to water and land absorbing different amounts of energy from the sun.
Different substances absorb heat at different rates.
Even different colours absorb different amounts of heat. A black brick, for example, will warm more quickly in the sun than a lighter coloured brick made of the same material. Ice and snow, for example, reflect a great deal of the sun's energy back into the atmosphere. Soil and sand absorb much of the sun's energy. Repeat the experiment using soil.