Heating and cooling a metal at the same time

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SUMMARY

When a metal is subjected to simultaneous heating and cooling at the same point, it does not expand or contract unless there is a net change in temperature. For example, placing a metal marble in cold water while simultaneously exposing it to sunlight demonstrates this principle. The heated side of the metal will expand, while the cooled side will contract, but overall expansion or contraction occurs only when the temperature of the metal changes. Therefore, the key factor is the net temperature of the metal, which must change for any dimensional alteration to occur.

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  • Knowledge of heat transfer mechanisms, including conduction and radiation
  • Familiarity with temperature measurement concepts
  • Basic physics principles related to states of matter
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tdev
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What happens if a metal is heated and cooled at the same point at the same time??
will it expand or contract??
 
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Hi. That's a rather ambiguous question. Can you be more specific?
 
Danger said:
Hi. That's a rather ambiguous question. Can you be more specific?
what is the overall effect-expansion or compression ??
 
You can't heat and cool at the same location at the same time. But you can heat and cool simultaneously two nearby points. So, part on the heated side will expand and part on the cooled side will contract.
 
OK, you could for instance put a small metal marble in cold water and at the same time heat it with a radiative heat source like the sun. It is a 'point' that will be 'heated and cooled' at the same time, meaning there is a heat source a heat sink for the metal at the same time and location. But the metal will expand or contract only when the temperature of the metal changes. When the net temperature of the metal remains constant, it will not expand or contract.
 
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