Experiment VI.

Liner Expansion of Metals

Purpose
No

Accessory

Qty

No.

Accessory

Qty

Aluminum base

Alcohol burner

Alcohol burner holder

10

Stick (aluminum x1, copper x 1

and iron x1)

11
Scale of linear expansion
1
12 Movable support stand
1
Observe the expansion of different metal sticks. Understand different coefficients of expansion will
influence the expansion of sticks.

Instrument

Theory
When an object is heated, its volume will expand. The volume and the temperature are in a linear
relationship. Suppose the length of an object is L and the temperature changes . If is small, the
relationship between L and can be written as LL. refers to coefficient of linear
expansion. Different metals have different coefficients of linear expansion so they have different
expansion length.

Procedure
1. Put the alcohol burner base on the aluminum base. Put the alcohol burner on the burner base. Make
sure the burner is placed properly, as shown in figure 1.
2. Put the movable support stand on the aluminum base and put the base next to the burner, as shown
in Figure 2.

Figure1

Figure2
22

3. Put the scale of linear expansion on the aluminum base. Put the base at the other side of the movable
support stand, as shown in Figure 3.
4. Put the metal sticks (copper, iron and aluminum sticks) between the movable support stand and
scale of linear expansion. The complete experimental setup is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3

Figure 4

5. Light the burner to heat metal sticks. Record reading on the scale every one minute.
6. Change the metal stick and repeat above procedure.

1Minute

2 Minute

3 Minute

4 Minute

5 Minute

6 Minute

Copper stick
Aluminum stick
Iron stick
23

Experiment result and discussion

1. Discuss the relationship between expansion coefficient of metal and thermal conductivity coefficient

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