Linear expansion of solids Purpose: To show the expansion of three metal solids when they are heated to approx. 100C. Equipment:Metal rods 600mm in length ( Aluminum, Steel & Copper ), a device for measuring and heating metal rod samples, bunson burner, pot of water to boil, gas.Procedure: The initial length of each rod of the metal samples must be measured, then one by one they are placed in a device that heats the rods to approx. 100 C. After the heating process is complete, the measurements are then taken again to show the linear expansion of each sample. The Aluminum sample expanded the most with a final length 1.01mm longer than it was initially. Second was the Copper sample with .75mm and Steel with a very small .36mm expansion.Data, Calculations and Error Analysis:DataMaterialInitial LengthInitial ReadingFinal ReadingInitial Temp.Final Temp.Change in lengthCopper600mm4.48mm5.23mm27 C97.5 C.75mmSteel600mm2.65mm3.11mm28 C98.5 C.36mmAluminum600mm11.62mm12.63mm26 C98 C1.01mmResultsMaterialExpActual% errorCopper16.56x10-617x10-62.6%Steel10.8x10-612x10-610%Aluminum23.22x10-623x10-6.96%Change in Temp. = Final Temp. – Initial Temp.Change in Length = Final Reading – Initial Reading = Change in Length / Initial Length x Change in Temp.Observations and Conclusions:This lab was a great way to show how various metals will expand when temperature increases and decreases. I never knew that when building structures the kind of metal has to be considered because of expansion. The equipment that was used in this lab allowed us to make real accurate mesurements some of our experimental values matched very favorable with the actual values of the samples....
