Does a hole in a metal sheet get larger or smaller when heated?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dell
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Material
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
1 reply · 3K views
Dell
Messages
555
Reaction score
0
if i have a metal sheet and i cut a hole in its center, and heat the sheet, will the hole grow larger or smaller?? (knowing that the material has a positive therml expansion)?

i know that the metal wants to expand, but in which direction,
??
i would think it would grow smaller but that's just intuition. can someone please explain this to me
 
Physics news on Phys.org
It will get larger as the expansion is uniform and to the outside. Think of it as a ring with a ring around it and so on to about 100 rings. if you heat them up they will all expand and grow in size and their connections ( the surface where 2 of them touch) will not be broken.