Water's Specific heat... and Sublimation of CO2

Today we reviewed the concept of specific heat and modeled objects with different specific heats - soil vs. water.  Depending on the class, we either heated these objects or allowed them to cool.  We found that the soil changed its temperature more rapidly than the water - signifying that its specific heat (resistance to temperature change) is less.
This relates to maritime/continental climates - your book explained that maritime climates are more moderate/stable than continental due to water's presence, and that matched the data we saw in class today - temperature of dry land soars in the daytime, then drops sharply at night, while water temperatures are slightly warmer in day and cooler at night, with a much smaller range.

Second, we got to work with dry ice... Carbon Dioxide that's been cooled until it is frozen solid.  At its surface, it sublimes (turns directly to gas) at a temperature of around -80C or -110F.  COLD!  Your body temperature is 37C, room temp is about 20C, and you know 0/100C as water's freeze/boil points.  Sublimation does happen with regular ice, but carbon dioxide completely skips the liquid stage, with absolutely no liquid being produced at all - pretty cool!
We looked at the clouds forming around dry ice for a bit (just water vapor turning to clouds/fog in nearby air as it cools and gives its thermal E to the ice) and then after a safety warning or two, students got to play with small pieces; making the rate increase with a conductive coin and hearing the vapors hiss away, making a dry ice air hockey puck, or just watching the ice make clouds and disappear.
Finally we had two big demonstrations; both involving adding water to the dry ice to make it sublimate faster (warm water provided more energy!)  First, we made a hot water bath for the dry ice, which looked cool, then we trapped it beneath a soap bubble film... which grew until it burst and cold water vapor fell over the edge, and then we mixed dry ice, soap, and warm water to make the cleanest fun you ever had - cloud bubbles.

Tomorrow's lab will involve an official writeup in your lab journal; it will be involving safety goggles and temperature change between solid, liquid, and gas of water.  We will also do some fun informal lab activities on the sidelines during tomorrow's lab, both involving states of matter and energy with ice/water.