What is the idea of Thermal Expansion?
1 Answer
Oct 15, 2017
See below.
Explanation:
The idea of thermal expansion is that a material can change in shape/area/volume in response to a change in temperature.
There are three general types of thermal expansion: linear, area, and volume.
- Linear expansion:
#color(blue)((DeltaL)/L_0=alphaDeltaT)# Where:
#L_0# is the original length of the material#DeltaL# is the change in length (making#(DeltaL)/L_0# the fractional change in length)#alpha# is the expansion coefficient (depends on specific material), and#DeltaT# is the temperature change experienced by the material
- Area expansion:
#color(red)((DeltaA)/A_0=2alphaDeltaT)#
Where
#(DeltaA)/A_0# is the fractional change in areaEvery linear dimension increases by the same percentage with a change in temperature.
- Volume expansion:
#color(purple)((DeltaV)/V_0=3alphaDeltaT)#
- Where
#(DeltaV)/V_0# is the fractional change in volume
