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Expansion

Fajrin Maulana K. 7J/16 Most of substances expand when they are heated and contract when they are cooled. Heat causes expansion because it increases the vibrations of the atoms or molecules of a substance. The increased vibration forces the atoms or molecules further apart an the substance becomes larger, i.e. expands. When the substance cools down, it becomes smaller, i.e. contracts.

Predicting expansion
If an equation of state is available, it can be used to predict the values of the thermal expansion at all the required temperatures and pressures, along with many other state functions.

Contraction effects
A number of materials contract on heating within certain temperature ranges; this is usually called negative thermal expansion, rather than "thermal contraction". For example, the coefficient of thermal expansion of water drops to zero as it is cooled to roughly 4 C and then becomes negative below this temperature, this means that water has a maximum density at this temperature, and this leads to bodies of water maintaining this temperature at their lower depths during extended periods of sub-zero weather. Also, fairly pure silicon has a negative coefficient of thermal expansion for temperatures between about 18 kelvin and 120 kelvin.

Factors
Unlike gases or liquids, solid materials tend to keep their shape when undergoing thermal expansion. Thermal expansion generally decreases with increasing bond energy, which also has an effect on the hardness of solids, so, harder materials are more likely to have lower thermal expansion. In general, liquids expand slightly more than solids. The thermal expansion of glasses is higher compared to that of crystals. At the glass transition temperature, rearrangements that occur in an amorphous material lead to characteristic discontinuities of coefficient of thermal expansion or specific heat. These discontinuities allow to detect the glass transition temperature where a supercooled liquid transforms to a glass. Absorption or desorption of water (or other solvents) can change the size of many common materials; many organic materials change size much more due to this effect than they do to thermal expansion. Common plastics exposed to water can, in the long term, expand many percent.

Expansion and Contraction Meaning: Bimetallic strip: is made of two strip of different metals fixed together. Example of Bimetallic strip: Fire alarm, Thermostat, Indicator Lamp, etc Rivets: steel bolts used to fasten steel plates firmly together. Axles for Wheel: The axle of wheel is shrunk by cooling it in liquid nitrogen at -190degree centigrate until it can be slipped into the hub of the wheel Gas Oven Thermostats: The temperature in a gas oven is controlled using an invar rod. When the burners are lit, the brass tube expands. Since the expansion of the invar rod is negligibel, the brass tube pulls the invar rod which in turn pulls the valve head inwards Expansion used in: bridges, railway tracks, concrete road, telephone wires, glass, etc Expansion and Contraction in gases: For an ideal gas, the volumetric thermal expansivity (i.e. relative change in volume due to temperature change) depends on the type of process in which temperature is changed. Two known cases areisobaric change, where pressure is held constant, and adiabatic change, where no work is done and no change in entropy occurs. Expansion and Contraction in liquid: Theoretically, the coefficient of linear expansion can be approximated from the coefficient of volumetric expansion (3). However, for liquids, is calculated through the experimental determination of.

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