Recent content by newtonlovechild

This is becoming hilarious! Chet, I think my last post was being typed while you and Astronuc were sending your posts, hence my odd reply. :) I thank you and everybody else for your contributions. I'm obviously not an engineer or a physicist, but as a surveyor I work with an aluminium...

Van 50, You are entitled to your opinion regarding me arguing, but you can't be certain. I thank you for your contributions but I feel it's best that you don't contribute any further. If anyone else is able to understand what I'm asking I'd appreciate your contributions. To me my question is...

Vanadium 50, I'm not arguing. I agree with Chet; yes, the material expands or contracts in proportion to its temperature. But its temperature is governed by the temperature of the air surrounding it, so as the air heats up so does the material, and it expands. But to predict the linear...

Chet, If the temperature in the city where I live was 30C maximum at 3pm today and I want to calculate how much a 10m length of aluminium in my back yard, under direct sunlight, had expanded at that time, the answer would be (30-20) * 0.000023 * 10 = 0.0023m. But this is 30C at the weather...

Chet, No, the material should expand in proportion to the effect the air temperature has on it. So if the air temperature is 20C, aluminium will expand at 0.000023m per linear metre per degree of temperature change. But there is a difference between shade and solar temperature, solar...

Nugatory It will expand until it reaches the air temperature. But the air temperature in your kitchen will be cooler than outside in the sun or the shade - where the temperature for a given place is measured. What I'm getting at is, if an engineer wishes to calculate the expansion of a material...

it's going to be the temperature of either the material or the air, but I'm not sure which. [Mentor's note: edited to keep the thread on-topic]

Hi, The coefficient of thermal expansion for aluminium is 23ppm/C at 20C = 0.000023m per degree in temperature (C). Is this temperature: (1) the temperature of the air circulating around the material in the sun, (2) the temperature in the shade at that time of the day, or (3) the tactile...