The climate would be reversed also in Washington D.C., because air warmed by the cooling of the Atlantic ocean would blow over Washington D.C. and produce a warmer climate in winter there. The brick will cool off too fast and you'll be cold in the middle of the night. Bring a jug of hot water with its higher specific heat to bed and you'll make it through the night. Sand has a low specific heat, as evidenced by its relatively large temperature changes for small changes in internal energy. A substance with a high specific heat, on the other hand, must absorb or give off large amounts of internal energy for comparable temperature changes.
Water is an exception.
No, the different expansions are what bends the strip or coil. Without the different expansions a bimetallic strip would not bend when heated. When the rivets cool they contract. This tightens the plates being attached. When doused, the outer part of the boulders cooled while the insides were still hot.