Effects & Applications
- Thermometer: Thermal expansion is used in temperature measurements in thermometers.
- Bimetal strip: It consist of two thin strips of different metals such as brass and iron joined together. On heating the strip, the brass expands more than the iron. This unequal expansion causes the bending of the strip. Bimetal strips are used for various purposes; they are used to measure temperature especially in furnaces and ovens. They are used in thermostats; a bimetal thermostat is used to control the temperature of the heater coil in an electric iron.
- Riveting: To join steel plates tightly together, red hot rivets are forced through holes in the plates. The end of hot rivets is then hammered. On cooling, the rivets contract and bring the plates tightly gripped.
- Removing tight lids: To open the cap of a bottle that is very tight, it can be immersed in hot water for about a minute. This causes the metal cap to expand and become loose.
- Railway tracks: They have gaps to make allowance for expansion due to a rise in temperature, otherwise the rails would buckle.
Other effects and applications of thermal expansion are found in fixing a metallic circular strip on a wooden tyre of a cart, buckling, expansion gap, anti-scalding valve, thermostat, cooking utensils, electric fire alarm, expansion of glass, sagging of telegraph wires, railway lines, steel bridges, etc.
Note: Thermal expansion is small but it does not always have an insignificant effect.
Effects & Applications
- Thermometer: Thermal expansion is used in temperature measurements in thermometers.
- Bimetal strip: It consist of two thin strips of different metals such as brass and iron joined together. On heating the strip, the brass expands more than the iron. This unequal expansion causes the bending of the strip. Bimetal strips are used for various purposes; they are used to measure temperature especially in furnaces and ovens. They are used in thermostats; a bimetal thermostat is used to control the temperature of the heater coil in an electric iron.
- Riveting: To join steel plates tightly together, red hot rivets are forced through holes in the plates. The end of hot rivets is then hammered. On cooling, the rivets contract and bring the plates tightly gripped.
- Removing tight lids: To open the cap of a bottle that is very tight, it can be immersed in hot water for about a minute. This causes the metal cap to expand and become loose.
- Railway tracks: They have gaps to make allowance for expansion due to a rise in temperature, otherwise the rails would buckle.
Other effects and applications of thermal expansion are found in fixing a metallic circular strip on a wooden tyre of a cart, buckling, expansion gap, anti-scalding valve, thermostat, cooking utensils, electric fire alarm, expansion of glass, sagging of telegraph wires, railway lines, steel bridges, etc.
Note: Thermal expansion is small but it does not always have an insignificant effect.
