Week 1- Thermal Expansion

1
Scheme of work term 1
 Week 1 - Expansivity of Heat
 Week 2- Gas Law

 Week 3 - Particulate nature of matter.

 Week 4 – Crystal structures.

 Week 5 – Electric Field I

 Week 6 – Electric Field II

 Week 7 - Fluids at rest and Motion.

 Week 8 - Elastic properties of solids

 Week 9 - ELECTRICAL

CONTINUITY/LASER
THERMAL EXPANSIONS IN SOLID

This is the increase in size or volume of a substance

due to heat applied.
Disadvantages of Expansion
It deforms the bridge structure.
It can make thick glass to break.
It causes rail way line to buckle.
It affects oscillation of the pendulum clock and the
balance wheel of watc

Advantages of Expansion
It can be applied in riveting two metal plates.
It can be applied in construction of automatic fire
alarms.
It can be applied in bimetallic strips in electric iron.
 There are 3 types of
expansion
1. Linear 2. Area 3. Volume

4
• Linear expansion, Coefficient of linear expansivity
• TYPES OF EXPANSION:
• I. Linear expansion
• 2. Area or Superficial Expansion
• 3. Volume or cubic Expansion
• LINEAR EXPANSION: linear expansion is expansion in
length of a body. Different solids expand at different rates,
this is because they have different coefficient of linear
expansivity.

• COEFFICIENT OF LINEAR EXPANSIVITY (α) :

• It is defined as increase in length per unit length per degree
rise in temperature. The unit is per Kelvin or 1/Kor K– 1
•
5
6
• Question 1.
• What is meant by the statement, the linear expansivity
of copper is 0.000017/k?
• Solution:
• It means that the increase in length per unit length per
degree rise in temperature of copper is 0.000017m.
• Question 2.
• A brass is 2 meters long at a certain temperature. What
is its length for a temperature rise of 100k, if expansivity
of brass is 1.8 x 10-5/k?
• Question 3.
• A metal of length 15.01m is heated until its temperature
rises to 600C. If its new length is 15.05m, calculate its
linear expansivity.
7
8
• Question 1: A metal cube of cross
sectional area 3.45m2 at 00C is heated at a
temperature rise of 70K, when the final
length of the cube is 3m. Find the:
• (i) coefficient of superficial expansivity.
• (ii) coefficient of linear expansivity.

9
10
• Question 2: The increase in the volume of
10cm3 of mercury when the temperature
rises by 1000C is 0.182cm3. What is cubic
expansivity of mercury.

11
12
Question 1: The increase in the volume
of 10cm3 of mercury when the
temperature rises by 1000C is 0.182cm3.
What is cubic expansivity of mercury.
QUESTION 2:
• A cube with side 100cm at 00C is
heated to 1000C. If the side becomes
101cm long find,
• a. The linear expansivity
• b. The cubic expansivity

13
• Applications of Expansion
• 1. The use of the bimetallic strip in:
• a. Fire alarm
• b. Bi-metallic thermometer
• c. temperature regulator in electric
pressing iron
• 2. Red hot rivet used in ship
• 3. Removal of tight glass stopper
• 4. Fitting of wheels in rims

14
Bimetallic Strips-lower metal expands
more than upper strip
Two strips of iron and brass are
welded together become more
or less curved b/c the metals
have different values for their
coefficient of linear expansion

They are often used as

thermostats….when the room is
too hot, coil bends toward iron
and opens circuit

15
Application of Bimetallic Strip
– Fire Alarm
Application of Bimetallic Strip
– Heating Element Control
 Other applications
• Heat resistant glass
• Gas in a gas tank
• Dental fillings
• Wires on telephone
poles

18
 Application of Expansion and
Contraction – Hot air balloons
Hot air balloons
depend on the
low density of
the air to float..
Heat is applied to expand the air in the
balloon. With the air expanded, its
volume will increase causing its density
to decrease. This results in the hot air in
the balloon to rise, thereby floating the
hot air balloon into the air
• 2. RED-HOT RIVET USED IN SHIP:
• Steel plates and girders which are used in ship
building and other constructional works are usually
riveted together.
• 3. FITTING OF WHEELS IN RIMS:
• The large driving wheels of locomotive are fixed with
steel tyre which are renewed from time to time as
they wear out. In order to ensure a tight fitting, the
tyre is made slightly smaller in diameter than the
wheel. The tyre contracts on cooling thus ensuring
tight fitting.
• 4. REMOVAL OF TIGHT GLASS STOPPER:
• A tight glass stopper can be removed by standing
the bottle in hot water. The glass bottle expands and
the stopper becomes loose. 20
 class work
• 1. a. What is meant by the statement: ‘The
linear expansivity of zinc is 2.6 x 10-5k-1?
• c. State one advantage and two
disadvantage of thermal expansion of
solids.[Neco 2000]
• d. An iron rod is 1.58m long at 00c.What
must be the length of a brass rod at 00c if the
difference between the lengths of the two
rods is to remain the same at all
temperatures.[ linear expansivity of iron = 1.2
x 10-5k-1, linear expansivity of brass = 1.9 x
21
-5
10 /k].
 • Assignment
• 1a A density glass bottle contains 44.25g of a liquid
at 00c and 42.02g at 500c.Calculate the real cubic
expansivity of the liquid [ linear expansivity of glass=
1.0 x 10-5/k].
b. The increase in the volume of 10cm3 of mercury
when the temperature rises by 1000c is 0.182cm3.
What is the cubic expansivity of mercury?
c. A glass bottle full of mercury has mass 500g on
being heated through 350c, 2.43g of mercury is
expelled. Calculate the mass of the mercury remaining
in in the bottle ( cubicexpansivity of mercury is 1.8 x
10-4/k, linear expansivity of glass is 8.0 x 10-6/k).

22
END