Question

1. Describe the relationship between the original and final lengths of a solid specimen when it's exposed to certain temperature change. Qualitative description is fine.

Answer 1

A matter have the tendency to change its dimensions such as length, area or volume with change in temperature. This phenomenon is called thermal expansion. When the temperature of a specimen increases, the kinetic energy of molecules increases due to heat absorbed. The increase in kinetic energy causes the vibration/motion of molecules, which results in the greater average molecular distance.

Thermal expansion in solid specimens is very apparent as the molecules are tightly packed. The thermal expansion can occur in length (linear expansion), area (area expansion) and volume (volume expansion) depending on the dimensions of specimen.

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