Practice Problems
Thermal Expansion
Directions:
On this worksheet you will investigate properties of
thermal expansion
of solids.
The following table shows a listing of coefficients of linear expansion for some common materials.
omit
Question 1
Which graph exhibits the behavior of the material having the greater cofficient of linear expansion?
green
purple
omit
Question 2
A copper bar changes in length by 0.8 meters with a 160 degree Celsius change in temperature. What is the bar’s original length?
3.03 x 10
2
meters
3.3 x 10
-3
meters
1.28 x 10
2
meters
2.11 x 10
-3
meters
omit
Question 3
A brass washer has a circumference of 16 cm at 18ºC, by how much will its diameter increase when the temperature reaches a maximum value of 32ºC.
1.35 x 10
-3
cm
4.23 x 10
-3
cm
6.74 x 10
-4
cm
9.68 x 10
-3
cm
omit
Question 4
Red-hot steel rivets were often used to hold multiple pieces of metal
together securely
. Suppose a rivet heated to 548ºC is placed through three carefully-aligned 0.4168-cm diameter holes to join three metal plates having a total thicknes of 0.5042 cm. After the riveter hammers the unformed end to close the joint, what will be the length of the rivet's shaft when it has cooled down to 21ºC?
rivets
riveted steel beam
0.4139 cm
0.5007 cm
0.5077 cm
0.5013 cm
omit
Question 5
Many architects integrate glass curtain-walls into their new building designs. During construction, contractors must account for the thermal expansion and contraction of these glass elements so that they will not crack during the building's lifetime. Suppose the contract calls for glass elements that measure 4.606-meter by 12.83-meters. If the average temperature in the area is 12.5ºC and the glass with be exposed to a temperature range of -22ºC to 47ºC, by how much will the glass surface area fluctuate?
+/- 5.113 x 10
-3
m
2
+/- 6.932 x 10
-2
m
2
+/- 1.023 x 10
-2
m
2
+/- 5.903 x 10
1
m
2
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