Temperature, heat and

expansion
Temperature

1) Macroscopic level
2) Microscopic level

1) Macroscopic level
Is it hot today in Cape Town?

Temperature = a measure of how hot or cold something is

with respect to some standard.

How does a thermometer work?

 Temperature
Def: Quantity that tells us how hot or cold a body or environment is (with respect to some
standard)

Temperature is just the KEave of the particles in a sample of matter, expressed in terms of
units or degrees designated on a standard scale.
Movement of particles in a substance is directly
related to the temperature. The hotter the
object, the faster the molecules within in the
object are moving. When the temperature
decreases, the molecular motion slows down.

Temperature is measured with a thermometer

 Thermometer
Properties:
Sensitivity to a change in temperature
• Accuracy in measurement
• Reproducibility of measurements
• Speed in coming into Thermal Equilibrium

Types of thermometer
1. Liquid in gas thermometers (mercury and alcohol)
2. Constant gas thermometers
3. Thermo - couples, etc.

Depend on the thermometric properties of matter such as changes in the following:

• Expansion
• Contraction
• Pressure
• volume
Temperature
Celsius Scale
• The number 0 - temperature at which water freezes.
• The number 100 - temperature at which water boils.
The gap between is divided into 100 equal parts, degrees.

The temperature scale used commonly in the United States is the

Fahrenheit scale.
• The number 32 - temperature at which water freezes.
• The number 212 - temperature at which water boils.
The gap between is divided into 180 equal parts, degrees.
Temperature
Kelvin Scale
Scientific research uses the SI scale—the Kelvin scale.
• Degrees are the same size as the Celsius degree and are called
“kelvins.”
• number 0 - the lowest possible temperature—absolute zero.
• At absolute zero a substance has no kinetic energy to give up.
• Zero on the Kelvin scale corresponds to -273°C.
What is the temperature for freezing water on
the Celsius scale?
A. O degrees C
B. – 273 degrees C
C. 100 degrees C
 Kelvin, Celsius, and Fahrenheit temperature Scales

Figure: Comparison of the Kelvin, Celsius, and Fahrenheit temperature scales.

 Temperature (T) and Units
Def: Quantity that tells how hot or cold an object is with respect to some standard.

Units:
• SI unit for T and used often by scientists :- Kelvin scale (K)
• Standard International unit :- Celsius scale (°C)
• American standard unit :- Fahrenheit scale (°F)
Temperature Conversions between the different scales (pg. 29 - 30)

• Celsius Temperature(TC) = Kelvin Temperature(TK) – 273 K

TC = TK – 273 K

• Kelvin Temperature(TK) = Celsius Temperature(TC) + 273 K

TK = TC + 273 K

• Fahrenheit Temperature (TF) = 9/5 Celsius Temperature + 32oF

TF = 9/5 TC + 32oF Change subject of formula

• Celsius Temperature(TC) = 5/9 (Fahrenheit Temperature (TF) – 32)oC

T = 5/9 (T – 32)oC
 Temperature Conversion Exercises
1. The temperature of a typical freezer is 280F. What is the equivalent
temperature in Celsius and Kelvin scales?
About -2.22 degrees Celsius and about 270.8 K

𝑇 𝑐 =𝑇 𝐾 − 273 𝐾
𝑇 𝐾 =𝑇 𝑐 +273 𝐾
9
𝑇 𝑓 = 𝑇 𝑐 +32 ° 𝐹
5
5
𝑇 𝑐 = ( 𝑇 𝑓 −32 ) ° 𝐶
9
What is the temperature for absolute zero on
the Celsius scale?
A. O degrees C
B. – 273 degrees C
C. 100 degrees C
What is the temperature for freezing water on
the Kelvin scale?
A. O K
B. 273 K
C. 100 K
D. 373 K
What is the temperature for boiling water on the
Kelvin scale?
A. O K
B. 273 K
C. 100 K
D. 373 K
Temperature and Kinetic Energy

Q: If I have a cup of hot water and a cup of cold water, in which

do you think the water molecules are jiggling around faster?

2). At microscopic level:

Temperature is proportional to the average kinetic energy of

molecular translational motion.

(vs vibrational or rotational motion)

Temperature
A bucketful of warm water (20degrees C) and a small cupful of
higher-temperature water (80degrees C) :
Which has more total molecular kinetic energy?
What has greater average kinetic energy?
When you touch a piece of cold ice with your
finger, the energy is transferred
A. from your finger to the ice
B. from the ice to your finger
C. both ways
D. energy does not flow, heat does.
 Temperature (cont.)
Note: Thermal equilibrium is achieved when two objects or
systems reach the same temperature and cease to exchange
energy through heat.

Question: How do two bodies reach thermal equilibrium?

• When two objects are placed together, the object with more
heat energy will lose that energy to the object with less heat
energy.
• Eventually, their temperatures will be equal and they will cease
to exchange heat energy as neither object is warmer or cooler
than the other.
• At this point, they are in a state of thermal equilibrium.
Heat
The direction of energy transfer - always from a warmer to a
cooler substance.
Heat = the energy transferred from one object to another
because of a temperature difference between them

An object can’t possess heat - heat is energy in transit.

Thermal Equilibrium
think!
Suppose you use a flame to add heat to 1 liter of water, and the
water temperature rises by 2°C. If you add the same quantity of
heat to 2 liters of water, by how much will its temperature rise?
Internal Energy
The grand total of all energies inside a substance.

Translation kinetic energy +

• Rotational kinetic energy of molecules.
• Kinetic energy due to internal movements of atoms within
molecules.
• Potential energy due to the forces between molecules.
 Check your understanding

Compared to a big iceberg, a boiling cup of coffee

has
A. more internal energy and higher temperature
B. higher temperature, but less internal energy
C. a greater specific heat and more internal energy
D. less internal heat and lower temperature
E. less average kinetic energy, but more internal
energy
See solution on the next slide
1. Given an iceberg and a cup of hot soup (50 oC)

(a) Which one has the higher temperature, and why?

(b) Which one has more internal energy?

The hot coffee has a higher temperature, but not a greater internal energy. Although the
iceberg has less internal energy per mass, its enormously greater mass gives it a greater
total energy than that in the small cup of coffee.

(For a smaller volume of ice, the fewer number of more energetic molecules in the hot cup
of coffee may constitute a greater total amount of internal energy - but not compared to an
iceberg.)
Specific Heat Capacity
For breakfast, you make hot toast and hot tea – which stays
hotter for longer?
For lunch, you eat a hot pie – which stays hotter for longer -
the crust or the filling?
Some substances remain hotter and take longer to cool
down than others
• A pot of water – takes 15 minutes to be heated from
room temperature to its boiling temperature.
• An equal mass of iron – takes about 2 minutes.
• For silver - less than a minute.
Specific Heat Capacity
DEFINITION: The specific heat capacity of a material is the quantity
of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram by 1 degree.

Different materials absorb energy in different ways

- Increase to-and-fro motion of molecules – TEMP INCREASES
OR
- Absorbed energy may also increase the rotation of molecules,
increase the internal vibrations within molecules, or be stored as
potential energy. (TEMP DOES NOT INCREASE)
 Specific heat capacity (C)
Def: The amount of heat (Q) to raise the temperature of a system is found to be
proportional to the mass (m) of the material and the temperature difference (ΔT), given by:

Q mcT
where c is the specific heat capacity of material & is a characteristic property of material
J
Ex: The specific heat capacity of water is: cwater  4186
kg  C

That implies that to raise the temperature of a 1 kg of water by 1°C (or 1 K) we need 4186 J
Note: Different materials absorb/release different amounts of energy at different rates.

Ex:

• A metal heats up quickly, but also cools down quickly.

• Water on the other hand absorbs lots of energy before it heats up and conversely takes
long time to cool down.
Table: Specific heat capacities of different materials

Substance Specific heat capacity (J/kgoC)

Ice 2000
Aluminium 900 Notice in table that some
materials, such as metals,
Glass 780 have clow, which means it
Iron 480 takes relatively little
energy to cause a large
Copper 390 Tincrease.
Silver 240
Sand 100
Other materials, such as
Water 4190 water, have chigh, so it
takes much more energy
Ethanol 2430 to effect the same Tincrease.

Helium 5180
Steam 2350
 Check your understanding
Question: The desert sand is very hot in the day and very cool at night. What does it tell you
about the specific heat capacity of the sand in the desert?

Sand has a very low specific heat (compared with air) because it absorbs and releases
heat energy very readily.
0.835 J/g°C. What is this value in J/kg. K

Since it has low specific heat capacity, means that the energy required to change the
temperature of the sand is very little. Hence, during the day, the sand gets very hot due to
the sun and during the night it gets very cold since it loses heat fast to the surroundings.
Which has highest specific heat capacity? Lowest?
The High Specific Heat Capacity of Water
A relatively small amount of water absorbs a great deal of heat for a
small temperature rise.
Why is water a good cooling agent? (examples?)

Water takes a long time to cool

Eg. hot water bottles
Eg. the warm water current off Europe (keeps Europe warmer than
Canada) – see map on the next two slides

– Europe and Canada are on the same latitude, but east coast of
Canada has much colder climate than the UK.
The Gulf Stream -you can see that the warm Gulf Stream
flows next to Europe but not next to the east coast of
Canana
The High Specific Heat Capacity of Water
Water has a high specific heat and is transparent, so it takes more
energy to heat up than land does.
 Check your understanding
Question: Give one reason why coastal regions tend to have a more moderate climate than
inland regions.

The specific heat of water (cwater) is much, much greater than that of air or of dry soil or
rocks. Therefore, more heat - more energy - is required to change the Twater than almost
anything else.

That means a large body of H20 changes its T far more slowly than most other things. A
Why are the temperature differences more
extreme in Limpopo than in Cape Town?

Water moderates temperature extremes

Q: On a cold winter’s night, which would keep

you warmer in bed – a 1-kg iron brick or a I-kg
bottle of hot water at the same temperature?

Q: Desert sand is very hot in the day and very

cold at night. Why?
If the specific heat of water were lower than it
is, then puddles of water in the winter cold of
Gauteng would be
A. more likely to freeze
B. less likely to freeze
C. neither more nor less likely to freeze
D. freezing has nothing to do with specific heat
A substance that has a high specific heat

A. always requires a lot of energy to raise its

temperature
B. always requires very little energy to raise
its temperature
C. is always a good conductor
D. is always a bad conductor
E. always has very little internal energy.
 Exercise
Question: During a bout of flu a 80 kg man ran a fever of 2 oC above normal, that is , his body
temperature was 39oC instead of 37oC. Assuming that the human body is mostly water, how
much heat is required to raise his temperature by this amount?

T 39 C  37 C 2 C

J
cwater  4190
kg  C

Q mcT
 J 
Q 80kg  4190  2 C 
 kg . C 
5
Q 6.7 X 10 J
Thermal Expansion
When temperature increases, molecules jiggle faster and
normally tend to move farther apart.
This results in an expansion of the substance.

Expansion joints in a roadway

When officials at the UWC Sports Day measured
the straight 100m track with a metal tape
measure, they did it on a hot day (30 degrees).
The race was run on a very cold day (10
degrees). The distance that the athletes ran was:
A. 100m, since temperature doesn’t matter
B. less than 100m
C. more than 100m
D. can’t say without knowing the type of metal
E. can’t say without knowing the specific heat of
the metal
 Exercise (cont.)
Question: Use a simple method to determine the temperature of the mixture when when
200 g of 80°C water is added to 600 g of 20°C water,
 Thermal Expansion
Most substances expand when heated and contract when cooled. The
amount of expansion and contraction varies, depending on the material.
Thus for a material of initial length Lo that is heated (or cooled) to ΔT,
the change in length ΔL can be represented by:
L  L 0 T
where α is the linear expansion coefficient of the particular material
FOR INTEREST:

• Area expansion (2D) → ΔA = γAoΔT where γ ~ 2α

• Volume expansion (3D) → ΔV = βVoΔT where β ~3α
coefficient of linear thermal expansion α coefficient of volumetric
thermal expansion β
material α in 10-6/K at 20 °C β(=3α) in 10-6/K at 20 °C
Water ~69 207
Mercury ~61 182
Lead 29 87
Brass 19 57
Silver 18 54
Glass 8.5 25.5
Silicon 3 9
Invar 1.2 3.6
Diamond 1 3
Quartz (fused) 0.59 1.77
Steel, depends on 11.0 ~ 13.0 33.0 ~ 39.0
composition
 Thermal Expansion (cont.)
Note: Although the phenomena of linear thermal expansion can be problematic when
designing bridges, buildings, aircraft and spacecraft, it can be put to beneficial uses. For
instance, household thermostats, some thermometers and bi-metallic strips make use of
the property of linear expansion.
 Exercise
Question: A 300 mm steel ruler (α =1.2 × 10-5/K) is placed on a hot stove (225 oC).
Calculate the change in length of the ruler

L  L0 T
 
L  1.2 X 10 5 / K 300mm 225 C 
1
L 8.10 X 10 mm
 Thermal Expansion (cont.)
Different metals expand at different rates. When a bimetallic strip is heated, one side
expands more than the other. This causes the strip to bend into a curve. The movement of
the strip operates a switch. A thermostat is used to control temperature.

If the switch is connected to a furnace or other heating system, the thermostat will turn the
heating system on and off. Bimetallic strips are used in refrigerators, oven thermometers,
electric toasters, and other devices.
In addition to heating systems,
thermostats are used as:

• Air conditioners
• Ovens
• Toasters
• Electric blankets
 Exercise (cont.)
Question: What is a bi-metallic strip and how is it used?

A bimetallic strip is used to convert a

temperature change into mechanical
displacement. The strip consists of two strips
of different metals which expand at different
rates as they are heated, usually steel and
copper, or in some cases brass instead of
copper.

The strips are joined together throughout their

length by riveting, brazing or welding. The
different expansions force the flat strip to bend
one way if heated, and in the opposite
direction if cooled below its initial
temperature. The metal with the higher
coefficient of thermal expansion is on the
outer side of the curve when the strip is
heated and on the inner side when cooled.
Thermal Expansion
In a bimetallic strip,
brass expands (or
contracts) more when
heated (or cooled) than
does iron, so the strip
bends as shown.

The movement of the

strip can turn a pointer,
regulate a valve, or
operate a switch.
Thermal Expansion: examples
• Teeth fillings - made with a substance with the same
expansion rate as teeth – why?
• Steel with the same expansion rate as concrete reinforces
the concrete.
• Window panes and putty – what would happen if the
glass was fitted snugly against the frame, without putty?
Almost all liquids will expand when they are heated. Ice-cold water,
however, does just the opposite!
Expansion of Water
Ice is less dense than water – due to crystal structure (6-
sided).
Expansion of Water
The six-sided
structure of a
snowflake – due to
the six-sided result of
ice crystals!
Expansion of Water
Expansion of Water
This behavior of water is very important in nature. Why?

(Other forms of ice – eg. tetragonal – 250K at 300MPa. Denser than water)
Expansion of Water

Why does ice float on water?

Heat Transfer
Three methods of Heat Transfer

a. Conduction – via ‘loose’ electrons

b. Convection – via fluid motion due to

density/pressure differentials

c. Radiation – IR (EM waves) – radiant energy

Heat Transfer Cartoon
 Mechanism of heat transfer
Recall that heat is the transfer of energy from a body with a high temperature to a
body with a lower temperature due to a temperature differential, ∆T.

The transfer of heat is essentially achieved by three mechanisms:

1. Conduction

2. Convection

3. Radiation
 Conduction
Def: Transfer of heat through atomic and molecular vibration due to an increase
in temperature of a body

• Generally atoms with loose outer electrons tend to be good conductors of heat, such
as copper, aluminum, iron etc.

• Atoms that have no loose electrons (free or loosely bound) in its outer shell tend to be
bad conductors of heat and is called heat insulators (ex: plastics, wool, wood, cork,
etc. )
• Most liquids and gases are poor conductors of heat

• Thermal conductivity constants (k) are indicative of a material’s ability to conduct heat.

• Materials with low k-values are good heat insulators (bad conductors like AIR and wood -)
and materials with large k-values are good heat conductors (e.g. metals like Silver, etc.)
Table: Thermal conductivities of some materials

Material Thermal conductivity

(W/(m·K)
Air 0.025
Wood 0.04 - 0.4
Cement 0.29
Water 0.6

Aluminium 220 (Pure)

120 - 180 (Alloys)
Gold 318
Copper 380
Silver 429
 Conductivity calculation
• Compute the thermal conductivity through a conductor when 30 kW of
heat flows through it having length of 4 m and area of 12 m2 if the
temperature gradient is 45 K.

• Q (Heat flow)= 30 kW, L (length) = 4 m, A (Area )= 12 m2, Δ T (temperature

difference) = 45 K.

• The thermal conductivity is articulated as,

• K = QL/(AD T)
=30 000W x 4m/(12m2 x 45K) = 222 W/mK
Animal Insulators
 Convection
Def: The transfer of heat energy in a fluid (gas or liquid) by means of currents in the heated
medium.
• Molecules in the fluid move, taking energy with them.

• Warm air rises due to faster molecules migrating to the top

• Expanding air cools (less KEave)

 Radiation
Def: The transfer of energy in form of photons (speed of light) by means of electromagnetic
(EM) radiation, i.e. radiant energy from the sun.

• All objects continuously radiate E in a mixture of wavelengths (Rise to different colors)

o Long wavelengths → Low temperatures

o Short wavelengths → High temperatures

Example:
 800 oC → Red light
 1200 oC → white hot

Note: Infrared radiation is also known as heat radiation.

 Refrigeration
Def: Is a process in which work is done to move heat from one location to another.

Description: A refrigerator is a device or appliance that uses an outside energy source to

transfer thermal energy from a cool area to a warm area. A refrigerator transfers energy
from the cold space inside to the warm room.
 Exercise
Question: Why do Inuit people build their igloos of snow and not ice?

Snow contains a lot of trapped air, a better insulator than ice

 Exercise (cont.)
Question: Why do tile floors feel colder than carpets (or even wooden floors) although
they might be at the same temperature?

• This deals with conduction.

• Both objects are the same temperature, but the tile floor is a good heat conductor as it
moves heat rapidly away from the skin, which is warmer than air temperature.

• The carpet is a good heat insulator (poor heat conductor) in that it impedes the flow of
heat and so feels comparatively warm.
 Exercise (cont.)
Question: Why do you get warmer while basking in the sun although there is no
“thermal contact” between you and the sun?

• Every object around you is continually radiating , i.e. scoop of ice cream, for example, radiates.

• Even you radiate all the time, you radiate heat in all directions all the time, and everything in your
environment radiates heat back to you.

• When you have the same temperature as your surroundings, you radiate as fast and as much to your
environment as it does to you.

• When two things are in thermal contact but no thermal energy is exchanged between them, they’re in
thermal equilibrium. If two things are in thermal equilibrium, they have the same temperature.

Note: If your environment didn’t radiate heat back to you, you’d freeze