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Measurement of coefficient of linear thermal expansion of a metal with the help of

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optical lever

1 Introduction
To measure thermal expansion, the material must be heated uniformly. A metal rod is kept in a jacket.
It is heated with steam. Two paths are provided in the jacket for passing steam with it. The apparatus
is kept vertical and in the top of that there is a platform on which optical lever can be placed. The rod

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is not allowed to expand in the lower end but a small hole is present in top of the platform. Thus, rod is
protruding through hole when it is expanded. The vertex of the optical lever is kept on the rod which goes
upward after expansion of the rod.
The path provided in lower end of the jacket is used to send the steam whether upper end is used
for exhalation. The expansion of the rod is noted when the rod is maintained at constant temperature
throughout. This is confirmed by the reading of the thermometers at both the ends.
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2 Theoretical Background
Length of a metal is increased due to increase of temperature. The length of a metallic rod can expressed
as
l0 = l (1 + αt) (1)
where l and l0 are the lengths of metallic rod before and after thermal expansion, t is the temperature
difference and α is the coefficient of thermal expansion.
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The change of length is very small. Optical lever is used to measure the small change. Optical lever is
a small device where a triangular plate is used. The triangle is happed to be an isosceles triangle and a
mirror is attached in base in upright position. The vertex of the lever (i.e., the apex of the triangle) is kept
on the rod and base is kept on a platform. Therefore, due to increase of length the vertex goes up and lever
becomes inclined. The inclination can be measured with a scale telescope arrangement. If the readings of
the reflected image of scale in mirror of optical lever looking through telescope be r and r0 before and after
the expansion, then angular rotation of the reflected ray be
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r0 − r d
φ= = (2)
D D
where D is the distance between mirror of the lever and scale. If the rotation of the mirror of optical lever
be θ then φ = 2θ. Therefore,
d
θ= (3)
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2D
Again,
∆l
θ= (4)
a
where a is the median of the triangle of lever base and ∆l = l0 − l.

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D

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scale

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Figure 1:

The length of optical lever can be measured easily. Taking impression of the base of the lever we can
identify the length of the equal sides, s and base, b. Then,
s
 2
b 1p 2
a= s2 − = 4s − b2 (5)
2 2
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s s
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Figure 2:
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From equation 1 we get,

∆l = l0 − l = lαD∆t

∆l aθ a d
 
α = = =
lt lt l∆t 2D
d p 2
= 4s − b2
4lD∆t

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3 Procedure

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(1) Place the tubes in lower end and upper end of the jacket of the apparatus for introduce and
exhalation of steam.
(2) Connect other end of the lower tube to steam producing apparatus.
(3) Place two thermometers in the entrance and exit point of the steam. The bulb of the thermometers
must reach the rod.
(4) Place the vertex of the optical lever on the top of the rod.

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Figure 3:
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(5) Place the telescope with scale in front of the apparatus and try to see the scale through mirror
without the telescope first. Adjustment of both the mirror and scale is required in this step. After getting
the image try to focus it through telescope.
The telescope supplied with this apparatus have focal length nearly 2 meters. The length of scale
attached to it is enough to take the reading in this range. If the telescope is kept at a distance more than
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that there is a risk that one of the readings may be out of the scale. Be careful about this meter if the
instrument has a small scale with it.

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(a)
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Figure 4: (a) The scale (of small size) and telescope, (b) View of scale through telescope
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(a) (b)
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Figure 5: Placement of optical lever: (a) as it is kept on platform, (b) placement of tip of vertex on the metallic rod

(6) Take the initial reading (r) in telescope and the temperatures at both the ends of the rod.
(7) Allow steam to enter the jacket and look at the readings of the thermometers. When the temperature
becomes constant (taking time temperature data) take the reading (r0 ) through the telescope again.
(8) Take a thread and measure the distance (D) between the scale and mirror of the optical lever.

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4 Observation

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A. Length of the rod
l =1 m =100 cm (supplied)
B. Temperatures
(a) Time temperature data

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Time 0 min 3 min 8 min 10 min 15 min
0 sec 21 sec 30 sec 10 sec 50 sec
tlower 28 30 96 97 97
tupper 30 35 97 98 98

(b) Temperatures at steady state

Initial temp Final temp Avg initial temp Avg final
temp temp diff
0C 0C 0C 0C ∆t 0 C





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tlower 28 97
29 98 69
tupper 30 99
C. Reading of Telescope
Initial reading (r) Final reading (r0 ) Difference (d = r0 − r)
-6.5 cm 4.5 cm 11 cm
D. Measurement of the distance between legs of optical lever
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Length of equal sides s = 4.7 cm

Length of base (where mirror is placed) b = 3 cm
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Figure 6: Impression of the legs of optical lever and distances between tips

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E. Distance between mirror and scale
D = 203 cm.

5 Calculation
The coefficient of linear expansion is
d p 2
α = 4s + b2

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4lD∆t
11
q
= 4 × (4.7)2 − (3)2
4 × 100 × 203 × 69
11 √
= 4 × 22.09 − 9
81200 × 69
√
= 1.9633 × 10−6 × 79.36
= 1.749 × 10−5
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= 17.49 × 10−6

The material of the rod was copper whose coefficient of linear expansion is given below.

Material Coefficient
Pure Copper 16.5 × 10−60 C−1
Free machining 17.7 × 10−60 C−1
Copper
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