Practice question · Multiple choice
A metal washer (a disk with a hole) is heated uniformly. What happens to the hole?
Hints
- Imagine photographing the washer and enlarging the photo: that is what uniform thermal expansion does.
- Every distance between any two atoms grows by the same fraction, including two atoms on opposite sides of the hole.
Show the answer
D. It expands, right along with the metal
Why
Uniform expansion is a uniform rescaling of all distances, holes included. That is why a stuck metal lid loosens under hot water: the lid’s opening genuinely widens.
Practise Temperature and Thermal Properties of Matter
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