On a hot day, the beach sand gets hot, but the water stay cool. Would you predict that the specific heat of sand is higher or lower than that of water?

The specific heat capacity of sand is less than the water.

Explanation:

On hot days, the beach sand gets hot than water because the specific heat capacity of water is higher than the sand.

Specific heat capacity:

"The amount of heat require to raise the temperature of one gram of substance by one degree"

it mean that water require more heat to raise the temperature while sand get hot by absorbing small amount of temperature.

The specific heat capacity of water is 4200 J Kg-1 °C-1

The specific heat capacity of sand is 840 J Kg-1 °C-1

Equation:

C = Q / ΔT

Here C is the heat capacity, ΔT is the change of temperature of substance by absorbing heat and Q is the energy in joule.

Another equation:

Q = C * m * ΔT

m is the mass of given substance. The specific heat capacity of water very high than other substances that make a water compound in term of temperature.