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 materialDeltaL is the change in length (making(DeltaL)/L_0 the fractional change in length)alpha is the expansion coefficient (depends on specific material), andDeltaT is the temperature change experienced by the material
Phy 218 Review Notes - Prof. Ekey (original source unknown)
- 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.
Phy 218 Review Notes - Prof. Ekey (original source unknown)
- Volume expansion:
color(purple)((DeltaV)/V_0=3alphaDeltaT)
- Where
(DeltaV)/V_0 is the fractional change in volume
Phy 218 Review Notes - Prof. Ekey (original source unknown)