Compare the thermal expansion in solids, liquids and gases and explain the differences with reason.
The comparison of thermal expansion in solids, liquids, and gases are:
Solid | Liquid | Gases |
1. When a solid is heated, its atoms vibrate faster about their fixed points. | 1. Liquids expand for the same reason, but because the bonds between separate molecules are usually less tight they expand more than solids. | 1. Molecules within gases are further apart and weakly attracted to each other. |
2. The relative increase in the size of solids when heated is therefore small. | 2. This is the principle behind liquid-in-glass thermometers. | 2. Heat causes the molecules to move faster, which means that the volume of a gas increases more than the volume of a solid or liquid. |
3. Metal railway tracks have small gaps so that when the sun heats them, the tracks expand into these gaps and don’t buckle. | 3. An increase in temperature results in the expansion of the liquid which means it rises up the glass. | 3. Gases that are contained in a fixed volume cannot expand and so increases in temperature result in increases in pressure. |