Question

Describe an experiment to demonstrate the thermal expansion in solids.

Answer 1

Experiment: [Gravesand’s ball and ring experiment]

Take metallic ball and ring so that ball can pass through ring easily. Now heat the ball. We see that heated ball cannot pass through the same ring. This is because on heating the ball increases in size. Now on cooling the ball again, it can pass through the ring. This experiment shows that solids expand on heating and contract on cooling.