UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING YEAR 1
Assignment 1

Name: Ashley Adams

USI: 1028668
Course Code: EMD 1104
Course Name: Physics
Lecture: Mr. Jomo Gill
Thermal expansion
Thermal Expansion is the tendency of matter to change its dimension (i.e. shape, area,
volume, and density) with respect to a change in temperature. Thermal Expansion takes place
usually as phase temperature increases because of interatomic collisions the substance
expands. Thus, an increase in its dimension is due to increases in its temperature, and this
property of the material is known as thermal expansion of substance. It can be further
classified as:

Thermal Expansion of Solid

Expansion of solid when heated is known as thermal expansion of solid. Thermal expansion
of solid can be further classified into three types based on their change in dimension. They
are Linear Expansion, Area or Superficial Expansion and Volume or Cubical Expansion.
Relation between α, β and γ
α= Linear expansion coefficient
β= Area thermal expansion coefficient
γ= Volume expansion coefficient

We know that,
β = 2α
γ = 3α
α : β : γ = 1 : 2 : 3.

Thermal Expansion of Liquid

For a liquid, we have only cubical expansion because liquid does not have any specific shape
and because of heat conduction liquid expands freely along all three dimensions. So, when
liquid is heated, then the vessel is also heated and the liquid in it is also heated. Hence the
first vessel expands and then the liquid expands too. Further thermal expansion of liquid can
be classified as:
Thermal Expansion of Gases
Similarly, for the thermal expansion of gas, they can be further classified into two types
based on their consequence of expansion.

Factors affecting Thermal Expansion

o Nature of the material– The amount by which a solid expands or contracts depends upon the
strength of bonds between the atoms of that solid object.
o Original length of an object– Expansion in a rod is directly proportional to the original
length of the rod. The longer the rod, the more is the expansion.
o Change in temperature– The greater the change in temperature of an object, the more is the
expansion.

Application of Thermal Expansion

Bullock carts– In bullock carts, iron rings are fitted onto the wooden wheels. The radius of the iron
ring is taken slightly less than that of the wooden wheel. The iron ring is heated. On heating, it
expands and its radius increases enabling it to fit onto the wooden wheel. Later, the iron ring cools
and shrinks to its original size, clamping itself firmly to the wooden wheel.