| Check us out at www.tutorvista.com Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change in volume in response to a change in temperature. When a substance is heated, its particles begin moving and become active thus maintaining a greater average separation. Materials which contract with increasing temperature are rare; this effect is limited in size, and only occurs within limited temperature ranges. The degree of expansion divided by the change in temperature is called the material's coefficient of thermal expansion and generally varies with temperature. Common engineering solids usually have coefficients of thermal expansion that do not vary significantly over the range of temperatures where they are designed to be used, so where extremely high accuracy is not required, calculations can be based on a constant, average, value of the coefficient of expansion. To more accurately calculate thermal expansion of a substance an equation of state must be used, which will then predict the values of the thermal expansion at all the required temperatures and pressures, along with many other state functions. |
