CLASS XI PHYSICS

THERMAL PROPERTIES OF MATTER

1.HEAT – Heat is a form of energy which gives us the sense of hotness and coldness of
body. It is a form of energy which produces in us the sensation of warmth. Heat energy
possessed by a body is due to the kinetic energy of the molecules constituting the body.
As a form of energy, heat has the unit joule(J) in SI system of units. Other
unit of heat is Calorie such that 1 Calorie = 4.18 Joule.

2.TEMPERATURE – The degree of hotness of a body is called its temperature. It is a

condition, which determines the direction of flow of heat, when two bodies are mixed
together.
Two objects in contact with each other are said to be in thermal equilibrium if
they have the same temperature. Following are the three scales of temperatures :

i)Celsius Scale – The melting point of ice at standard atmospheric pressure in this
scale is 0ºC(lower fixed point) and the boiling point of water is 100ºC(upper fixed point).

ii)Fahrenheit Scale – The melting point of ice in this scale is 32ºF and the boiling point
of water is 212ºF.

iii)Reaumer Scale – The melting point of ice in this scale is regarded as 0ºR and the
boiling point of water as 80ºR.

If the temperature of a body on Celcius, Fahrenheit and Reumer scales is recorded as

C, F and R respectively, then

C−0 F−32 R−0

= =
100−0 212−32 80−0

C F−32 R
= =
5 9 4

3.THERMAL EXPANSION – Almost all solids are found to expand with the rise in
temperature. The thermal expansion of solids is of three types namely linear
expansion, superficial expansion and cubical expansion. In each type of
expansion, the increase in dimension is observed to be proportional to the original
dimension and the rise in temperature.

i)Linear expansion – It is defined as the change in length per unit original length per
degree rise in temperature. Suppose that a solid is in the form of a rod of length l is
heated till its temperature rises by ∆ t such that the length of the rod increases by ∆ l .
Then,
 ∆l
Coefficient of linear expansion, α =
l∆t
Its unit is ºC−1∨K −1 .

ii)Superficial expansion – It is defined as the change in area per unit original area per
degree rise in temperature. Let initial area of a body be A and the area change by ∆ A ,
with the rise of temperature ∆ t . Then,
∆A
Coefficient of superficial expansion, β=
A ∆t
Its unit is ºC−1∨K −1 .
ii)Volume(Cubical) expansion – It is defined as the change in volume per unit original
volume per degree rise in temperature. Let initial volume of a substance be V and the
change in volume with change in temperature ∆ t is ∆ V .
Then,
∆V
Coefficient of superficial expansion, γ =
V ∆t
Its unit is ºC−1∨K −1 .
4.ANOMALOUS EXPANSION OF WATER – Generally the volume of liquids increases
with the rise of temperature. But, the volume of water decreases when it is heated from
0ºC to 4ºC and then after 4ºC the volume increases. Similarly, when the water is
cooled its volume decreases up to 4ºC and then increases from 4ºC to 0ºC. Such
expansion of water is called anomalous expansion.
In the cold countries when the temperature of the atmosphere of the
atmosphere decreases, the temperature of the water of the lake also decreases. When
the temperature reaches upto 4ºC, the density of the water becomes maximum. Then
the ice begins to float on the surface, preventing the heat of water to go out into the
atmosphere. Hence, water remains at 4ºC at bottom. Thus, the animals survive in this
water of 4ºC.

5.SPECIFIC HEAT – The specific heat of the material of a substance may be defined as
the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of the unit mass of the substance
through or 1ºC.
In SI, the specific heat of the material of a substance may be defined as
the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of the substance through 1
K(or 1 ºC). The unit of specific heat is J/kg K in SI and cal/g ºC in cgs system. If an
amount of heat ∆ Q is needed to raise the temperature of mass m of a substance
through ∆ T , then from the definition of specific heat,
 ∆Q
S=
m∆T

∆ Q=Sm ∆ T

The specific heat capacity is the property of the substance which determines the
change in the temperature of the substance when a given quantity of heat is absorbed
or released by it. It depends on the nature of the substance & its temperature.
If the amount of substance is specified in terms of moles μ, instead of mass m in
kg, then heat capacity per mole of the substance is given by
.
∆Q
. C=
μ ∆T

Where C is the molar specific heat capacity of the substance. The SI unit of molar
specific heat capacity is J / mol K.
The two specific heats of gases are specific heat at constant pressure (
C p¿
and specific heat at constant volume (C v ¿ .

6.CALORIMETRY – Calorimetry means the measurement of heat. When a body at

higher temperature is brought in contact with another body at lower temperature, the
heat lost by the hot body is equal to the heat gained by the colder body, provided no
heat is allowed to escape to the surroundings. A device in which heat measurement can
be made is called a calorimeter.

It consists of a metallic vessel and stirrer of the same material like copper or
aluminium. The vessel is kept inside a wooden jacket which contains heat insulating
materials like glass wool etc. The outer jacket acts as a heat shield and reduces the
heat loss from the inner vessel. There is an opening in the outer jacket through which a
mercury thermometer can be inserted into the calorimeter.
7. CHANGE OF STATE – When heat is supplied to a substance, it raises the
temperature of the substance. However, it is not always true. Sometimes, heat is
supplied to a substance brings about a change in the state of the substance instead of
producing a rise in its temperature. The change of state from solid to liquid is called
melting and from liquid to solid is called fusion.
The temperature at which the solid and the liquid states of the substance in
thermal equilibrium with each other is called its melting point. It is characteristic of the
substance. It also depends on pressure. The melting point of a substance at standard
atmospheric pressure is called normal melting point. The change of state from liquid
to vapour(or gas) is called vaporization. The temperature at which the liquid and the
vapour states of the substance coexist is called its boiling point. The boiling point of a
substance at standard atmospheric pressure is called its normal boiling point.
The latent heat of a substance may be defined as the quantity of heat
required to change the unit mass of the substance completely from its one state to
another at constant temperature.
 If m is the mass of the substance and L is latent heat of fusion(or vaporization),
then the amount of heat required to change the state of the substance is given by
Q=ML

Q
Or L¿M

SI unit of latent heat is Joule/ kg and CGS system is cal/gm.

i)Latent heat of Fusion – The latent heat of fusion of a solid may be defined as the
amount of heat required to change the unit mass of the solid to its liquid state at its
melting point.

ii) Latent heat of vaporisation – The latent heat of vaporization of a liquid may be
defined as the amount of heat required to change the unit mass of the liquid to its
vapour state at its boiling point.

8.HEAT TRANSFER – There are three ways in which heat energy may get transferred
from one place to another. These are conduction, convection and radiation.
Heat is transferred from one end to the other end of a solid by the process
of conduction. Liquids and gases are heated by the process of convection. When an
object is at high temperature, heat travels from it to the distant places by the process of
radiation.
i)Conduction – It is the process by which heat is transmitted from one point to another
through a substance in the direction of fall of temperature without the actual motion of
the particles of the substance themselves. Conduction is the mechanism of transfer of
heat between two adjacent parts of a body because of their temperature difference.
Suppose one end of a metallic rod is put in a flame, the other end of the road will
soon be so hot that you cannot hold it by your bare hands. Here heat transfer takes
place by conduction from the hot end of the rod through its different parts to the other
end. In this process, the particle which is heated first gives a part of its energy to its
adjacent particles. The particles undergo simple harmonic motion about their mean
position and the heat is transmitted from one place to the next. Solids are heated by
this process only.

Applications of conductivity in everyday life :–

Thermal conduction plays an important role in our everyday life. Some practical
applications of the thermal conductivity are as follows :

a)Cooking utensils are provided with wooden handles

b)Birds often swell their feathers in winter

c)In winter, a metallic handle of a door appears colder than the remaining part of
the door
d)Ice is packed in gunny bags or saw dust

e)Eskimos make double walled houses of the blocks of ice

Temperature Gradient – It is defined as the rate of change of temperature with

distance in the direction of flow of heat.

−dT
Temperature Gradient = dx

where dT is the change in temperature with the distance dx and the negative sign
shows that as the distance increases, the temperature decreases.
It is a vector quantity and its unit is K/m or ºC/m.

Thermal Conductivity – The amount of heat flowing through a substance by

conduction depends upon a number of factors. Consider a slab of such a substance
possessing parallel faces.

Let A be the area of cross-section of each of its two parallel faces. Suppose that
the hot face is at temperature T 1, while the cold face is at temperature T 2. It is found that
the amount of heat Q, which flows from the hot face to the cold face is

(i)directly proportional to the area of cross-section(A) of the face i.e.

 Q∝A

(ii)directly proportional to the temperature difference (T 1−¿ T 2 ¿ between the two faces
i.e. Q ∝ (T 1−¿ T 2 ¿

.(iii)directly proportional to the time (t) for which the heat flows i.e.
Q∝t

.(iv)directly proportional to the thickness(d) of the slab or the distance between the hot
and the cold faces i.e.
1
. Q∝
d
.On combining the above factors,
A ( T 1−T 2 ) t
. Q∝ d

A ( T 1−T 2 ) t
Q ¿K d

Where the constant of proportionality K is known as the coefficient of thermal

conductivity of the material of the slab. Its value depends upon the nature of the
material of the slab.

If A = 1, d = 1, t = 1 and T 1=¿ T 2 = 1 ; then,

K=Q

Therefore, the coefficient of thermal conductivity of a material may be defined as the

quantity of heat energy that flows in unit time between the opposite faces of a cube of
unit side made of that material, the faces being kept at one degree difference of
temperature. The units of coefficient of thermal conductivity are J/s m K or W/ m K in
SI system and cal/ s cm ºC in cgs system.
ii)Convection – It is the process by which heat is transmitted through a substance from
one point to another due to the bodily motion of the heated particles of the substance. In
this mode of flow the particles of substance absorb heat and leave their place or get
displaced. The fluids(liquids and gases) are heated by this process.
The fluid on getting heated becomes lighter in density and therefore rises
upwards, while the colder fluid moves down to take its place. Thus, currents are set up
in the heated fluid. These are called convection currents.

Applications of Convection :

a)Convection plays an important role in ventilation and in heating and cooling systems
of the house.
b)Convection plays an equally important role in the formation of the tradewinds.

Newton’s Law of Cooling – According to this law, the rate of cooling is directly
proportional to the difference of mean temperature of the body and the temperature of
the surroundings.
Let a substance be cooled from θ1ºC to θ2 ºC in t sec and temperature of
surrounding is θ .
θ −θ
.∴ Rate of Cooling = 1 2
t

θ1 +θ 2
And Mean temperature of the substance =
2

θ1 +θ 2
.∴ Temperature difference =
2
−θ

Hence, By Newton’s Law,

t
∝ (
θ1−θ 2 θ 1 +θ2
2
−θ )
θ1−θ 2
t (
θ +θ
=K 1 2 −θ
2 )
Where, K is the proportionality constant.

Cooling Curve – The graph plotted between rate of cooling and temperature difference
is called cooling curve. It is a straight line.

(iii)Radiation – It is the process by which heat is transmitted from one place to another
without heating the intervening medium. The heat from the sun reaches the earth by the
process of radiation after travelling through millions of kilometers of vaccum. The energy
emitted by a body in the form of radiation on account of its temperature is called thermal
radiation.

Properties of thermal radiation :

a)Thermal radiation can travel through vaccum.

b)Thermal radiation always travel along straight lines.

c)Thermal radiation obey the laws of reflection.

d) Thermal radiation can be refracted

e)The velocity of thermal radiation is equal to the velocity of light

f)Thermal radiation do not affect the medium through which they pass.

9.PERFECTLY BLACK BODY – A perfect black body is the one which absorbs heat
radiation of all the wavelengths which fall on it, and emits the full radiation spectrum on
being heated. Such a body neither reflects nor transmits any part of the incident heat
radiation and hence appears black irrespective of the colour of the incident radiation.
Also, a perfectly black body, when heated, emits radiation of all positive
wavelengths at that temperature. The wavelength range of emitted radiation is
independent of the material of the body and depends only on the temperature of the
black body. In practice, a surface coated with lamp black or platinum black absorbs
about 98% of the heat radiation falling on it. However, on heating, such a body does not
emit full radiation spectrum. Therefore, such a body can serve as perfect black body
only for absorption of heat radiation.
It is found that if a hollow body is heated, the radiation coming out from the
inner surface through a small opening in it, constitute the full radiation spectrum. Such
radiation is called cavity radiation. Such a body acts as a perfect black body for both
absorption and emission.
Fery’s black body :

Fery designed a perfectly black body on the principle that any space which is almost
wholly closed(a closed enclosure with a small hole) is capable of emitting and absorbing
full radiation spectrum. The reason is that the heat radiation that enters the enclosure
through the small hole, gets 100% absorbed from its surface coated with lamp black.
Since a good absorber is a good radiator also, such an enclosure behaves as 100%
radiator also.
Fery’s black body consists of a double walled hollow sphere having a small
opening O on one side and a conical projection P just opposite to it. Its inner surface is
coated with lamp black. A heater coil HH placed between the two walls is used to heat
the body. It can be maintained at any constant temperature by passing an appropriate
current through the heater coil.
The heat radiation entering the hollow sphere through the opening O get completely
absorbed due to multiple reflection. The change oh heat radiation getting out through
the opening is reduced by the conical projection and the lamp black coating.
When the body is heated, it emits full radiation spectrum at that temperature. It
may be pointed out that it is the opening O, which acts as the black body. The radiation
coming out through the opening from the inner surface of the hollow sphere is called
cavity radiation.

10.ABSORPTIVE AND EMMISSIVE POWERS :

Absorptive power – A perfect black body absorbs all the heat radiation incident on its
surface. Likewise, the absorptive power of a perfect black body is unity.
The absorptive power of a body is the ratio of the heat radiation absorbed by it in
a given time to the amount of radiation incident on it in that time.
 The absorptive power of a body for a given wavelength and at a given
temperature is defined as the ratio of the radiant energy of that wavelength absorbed
per second by its surface to the radiation of that wavelength incident in one second on
the same area. It is denoted by a λ .

Emissive power – The emissive power of a body is also defined for a particular
wavelength.
The emissive power of a body at a given temperature and for a given wavelength
is defined as the radiant energy of that wavelength emitted per second per unit area of
its surface. It is also called emissivity of the body and it is denoted by e λ.

11.WEIN’S DISPLACEMENT LAW – It states that the product of the wavelength of the
maximum emission and the corresponding absolute temperature of the black body is
always constant i.e.

λ m.T = b,
Where b is called Wein’s constant. Its value is 0.002898 m K in SI. Wein’s law tells
that the total energy emitted by a perfect black body is not uniformly distributed over the
entire wavelength range emitted by it. The energy emitted is maximum for a particular
wavelength λ m.
It is a common observation that when a body is heated more and more, the
colour of the body changes from red(longer wavelength) to yellow(smaller wavelength).
This observation can be easily explained on the basis of Wein’s law as with increasing
temperature, the emission of energy is maximum corresponding to the smaller
wavelength.

12.GREEN HOUSE EFFECT – The sun is source of energy. It emits energy in the form
of visible light, infra-red and ultra-violet radiations. The behaviour of atmosphere is
different towards different types of radiations. Whereas the ultra violet radiation and
other low wavelength wave are absorbed by the ozone layer, a large part of the infra-
red radiation is not allowed by the atmosphere to pass through it. The earth’s
atmosphere is transparent to visible light. Therefore, only visible light and a part of infra-
red radiations reach the earth’s surface. These radiations keep the earth’s surface
warm even at night due to the green house effect of the atmosphere, as explained
below :
The earth gets heated to only a low temperature due to the solar energy
reaching its surface. At such a low temperature, the energy emitted from the earth lies
mostly in the infra-red region. Since earth’s atmosphere is not transparent to infra-red
radiations, these radiations are reflected back. The low lying clouds and heavy gases
like CO2 present in the atmosphere reflect infra-red radiation back towards the earth’s
surface. Due to this, the earth’s atmosphere becomes richer in infra-red radiation. As
the radiation is absorbed by the objects readily, they get heated in this process. This
phenomenon is called the green house effect.
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