Thermal expansion

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Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change in shape, area, and volume in response to a change in temperature,through heat transfer.

Temperature is a monotonic function of the average molecular kinetic energy of a substance. When a substance is heated, the kinetic energy of its molecules increases. Thus, the molecules begin moving more and usually maintain a greater average separation.

Materials which contract with increasing temperature are unusual; this effect is limited in size, and only occurs within limited temperature ranges. The degree of expansion divided by the change in temperature is called the material's coefficient of thermal expansion and generally varies with temperature.

Cofficient of Thermal Expansion

The coefficient of thermal expansion describes how the size of an object changes with a change in temperature. Specifically, it measures the fractional change in size per degree change in temperature at a constant pressure.

Several types of coefficients have been developed: volumetric, area, and linear. Which is used depends on the particular application and which dimensions are considered important. For solids, one might only be concerned with the change along a length, or over some area.

$$ \alpha _\text{V} = \frac{1}{V} ( \frac{ \partial V}{ \partial T})_p $$

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