Chapter 19

Thermal Properties

Concept Check 19.1

Question: (a) Explain why a brass lid ring on a glass canning jar will loosen when
heated.
(b) Suppose the ring is made of tungsten instead of brass. What will be the effect of
heating the lid and jar? Why?
Answer: (a) A brass lid on a glass canning jar will loosen when heated because brass
has the greater coefficient of thermal expansion [20 x 10-6 (°C)-1 versus approximately 9 x 10-6
(°C)-1 for glass, Table 19.1].
(b) If the ring is made of tungsten instead of brass, the ring will tighten upon heating
inasmuch as the glass will expand more than tungsten. The values of αl for glass and tungsten are

9 x 10-6 (°C)-1 and 4.5 x 10-6 (°C)-1, respectively.

Concept Check 19.2

Question: The thermal conductivity of a plain carbon steel is greater than for a stainless
steel. Why is this so? Hint: you may want to consult Section 11.2.
Answer: The thermal conductivity of a plain carbon steel is greater than for a stainless
steel because the stainless steel has much higher concentrations of alloying elements. Atoms of
these alloying elements serve as scattering centers for the free electrons that are involved in the
thermal transport process.
Concept Check 19.3

Question: The thermal conductivity of a single-crystal ceramic specimen is slightly

greater than a polycrystalline one of the same material. Why is this so?
Answer: The thermal conductivity of a single crystal is greater than a polycrystalline
specimen of the same material because both phonons and free electrons are scattered at grain
boundaries, thus decreasing the efficiency of thermal transport.
Concept Check 19.4

Question: Which of a linear polyethylene ( M n = 450,000 g/mol) and a lightly branched

polyethylene ( M n = 650,000 g/mol) has the higher thermal conductivity? Why? Hint: you may

want to consult Section 14.11.

Answer: The linear polyethylene will have a larger conductivity than the lightly branched
polyethylene because the former will have a higher degree of crystallinity by virtue of its linear
molecular structure. Since heat transfer is accomplished by molecular chain vibrations, and the
coordination of these vibrations increases with percent crystallinity, the higher the crystallinity,
the greater the thermal conductivity.

Concept Check 19.5

Question: Explain why, on a cold day, the metal door handle of an automobile feels
colder to the touch than a plastic steering wheel, even though both are at the same temperature.
Answer: On a cold day, the metal door handle feels colder than the plastic steering wheel
because metal has the higher thermal conductivity, and, therefore, conducts heat away from one's
skin more rapidly.
 Chapter 20
Magnetic Properties

Concept Check 20.1

Question: Cite the major similarities and differences between ferromagnetic and
ferrimagnetic materials.
Answer:
The similarities between ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials are as follows:
(1) There is a coupling interaction between magnetic moments of adjacent atoms/cations
for both material types.
(2) Both ferromagnets and ferrimagnets form domains.
(3) Hysteresis B-H behavior is displayed for both, and, thus, permanent magnetizations
are possible.
The differences between ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials are as follows:
(1) Magnetic moment coupling is parallel for ferromagnetic materials, and antiparallel
for ferrimagnetic.
(2) Ferromagnetics, being metallic materials, are relatively good electrical conductors;
inasmuch as ferrimagnetic materials are ceramics, they are electrically insulative.
(3) Saturation magnetizations are higher for ferromagnetic materials.

Concept Check 20.2

Question: What is the difference between the spinel and inverse spinel crystal
structures? Hint: you may want to consult Section 12.2.
Answer: Both spinel and inverse spinel crystal structures consist of FCC close-packed
stackings of anions (O2- ions). Two types of sites, tetrahedral and octahedral, exist among the
anions which may be occupied by the cations. The divalent cations (e.g., Fe2+) occupy
tetrahedral positions for both structures. The difference lies in the occupancy for the trivalent
cations (e.g., Fe3+). For spinel, all trivalent ions reside on octahedral sites; whereas, for the
inverse spinel, half are positioned on tetrahedral sites, the other half on octahedral.
Concept Check 20.3

Question: Explain why repeatedly dropping a permanent magnet on the floor will cause
it to become demagnetized.
Answer: Repeatedly dropping a permanent magnet on the floor will cause it to become
demagnetized because the jarring causes large numbers of magnetic dipoles to become
misaligned by dipole rotation.
Concept Check 20.4

Question: Schematically sketch on a single plot the B-versus-H behavior for a

ferromagnetic material
(a) at 0 K,
(b) at a temperature just below its Curie temperature, and
(c) at a temperature just above its Curie temperature. Briefly explain why these curves
have different shapes.
Answer: These B-versus-H behaviors are sketched schematically below.

At 0 K, the saturation magnetization will be a maximum, and the hysteresis loop will have the
largest area. At a higher temperature (yet below the Curie temperature) the saturation
magnetization will decrease and the size of the hysteresis loop will diminish. Finally, above the
Curie temperature, ferromagnetic behavior ceases, and the material becomes paramagnetic, with
linear B-versus-H behavior; the slope of this line segment is very gentle.

Concept Check 20.5

Question: Schematically sketch the hysteresis behavior for a ferromagnet that is

gradually demagnetized by cycling in an H field that alternates direction and decreases in
magnitude.
 Answer: A schematic sketch showing the hysteresis behavior for a ferromagnet which is
gradually demagnetized by cycling an H field that alternates direction and decreases in magnitude
is shown below.
Concept Check 20.6

Question: It is possible, by various means (e.g., alteration of microstructure and

impurity additions), to control the ease with which domain walls move as the magnetic field is
changed for ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials. Sketch a schematic B-versus-H
hysteresis loop for a ferromagnetic material, and superimpose on this plot the loop alterations
that would occur if domain boundary movement were hindered.
Answer: Hindering domain boundary movement will enhance the coercivity of the
magnetic material, without producing a significant alteration of the saturation flux density. Thus,
schematic B-H behaviors with and without domain boundary obstruction are shown below.
 Chapter 21
Optical Properties

Concept Check 21.1

Question: Briefly discuss the similarities and differences between photons and phonons.
Hint: you may want to consult Section 19.2.
Answer:
Similarities between photons and phonons are:
1) Both may be described as being wave-like in nature.
2) The energy for both is quantized.
Differences between photons and phonons are:
1) Phonons are elastic waves that exist within solid materials. Photons are
electromagnetic energy packets that may exist in solid materials, as well as in other
media.
2) There is a considerable disparity between the velocities of photons and phonons. The
velocity of a photon is the same as the velocity of light in the particular medium;
for a phonon, its velocity is that of sound.

Concept Check 21.2

Question: Electromagnetic radiation may be treated from the classical or the quantum-
mechanical perspectives. Briefly compare these two viewpoints.
Answer: From the classical perspective, electromagnetic radiation is wave-like in
character, and the possible energies of the radiation are continuous. From the quantum-
mechanical perspective, electromagnetic radiation is dual-like in character (being both wave-like
and particle-like), and not all energies are possible (i.e., energy is quantized).
Concept Check 21.3

Question: Why are metals transparent to high-frequency x-ray and γ-ray radiation?
Answer: Metals are transparent to high-frequency X-ray and γ-ray radiation since the
energies of these types of radiation are greater than for visible light; electron excitations
corresponding to these energies (with energy absorption) are not possible because energies for
such transitions would be to within an energy band gap beyond the highest partially-filled energy
band.
Concept Check 21.4

Question: Which of the following oxide materials when added to fused silica (SiO2) will

increase its index of refraction: Al2O3, TiO2, NiO, MgO? Why? You may find Table 12.3

helpful.
Answer: In ionic materials, the larger the size of the component ions the greater the
degree of electronic polarization. Upon consultation of Table 12.3 we find that the Al3+, Ti4+,
Ni2+, and Mg2+ ions are all greater in size than the Si4+ ion (0.053, 0.061, 0.069, and 0.0.072 nm,
respectively, versus 0.040 nm), and, therefore, all of these ions will increase the index of
refraction when added to SiO2.
Concept Check 21.5

Question: Are the elemental semiconductors silicon and germanium transparent to

visible light? Why or why not? Hint: you may want to consult Table 18.3.
Answer: We want to decide whether or not Si and Ge are transparent to visible light on
the basis of their band gap energies. Table 18.3 cites 1.11 and 0.67 eV, respectively, as the Eg's

for these two semiconductors. According to Equation 21.16b, semiconductors having band gap
energies less than about 1.8 eV are opaque to visible light. Thus, both Si and Ge fall into this
category, and all visible light is absorbed by valence-band-to-conduction-band-electron
transitions across their reasonably narrow band gaps.
Concept Check 21.6

Question: Compare those factors that determine the characteristic colors of metals and
transparent nonmetals.
Answer: The characteristic color of a metal is determined by the distribution of
wavelengths of the nonabsorbed light radiation that is reflected. The characteristic color of a
transparent nonmetal is determined by the distribution of wavelengths of the nonabsorbed light
radiation that is transmitted through the material.
Concept Check 21.7

Question: Is the semiconductor zinc selenide (ZnSe), which has a band gap of 2.58 eV,
photoconductive when exposed to visible light radiation? Why or why not?
Answer: Zinc selenide, having a band gap of 2.58 eV, is photoconductive. In order to be
photoconductive, electrons must be excited from the valence band into the conduction band by
the absorption of light radiation. According to Equation 21.16a, the maximum band gap energy
for which there may be absorption of visible light is 3.1 eV; since the band gap energy for ZnSe
is less than this value, photoinduced valence-band-to-conduction-band electron transitions will
occur.