Question

By what length will a slab of concrete that is originally 18 m long contract when the temperature drops from 24°C to -16°C.

Answer 1

The length of the slab decreases by 7.2 millimeter if we take the value of coefficient of linear expansion of the slab as
`10* 10^(-6)m/m^(o)C`

Step-by-step explanation:

Using the formula of linear expansion we have

`\Delta L=L_(o)\alpha \Delta T`

where

`L_(o)` is the initial length of the slab

`\alpha =10* 10^(-6)` is the coefficient of linear expansion of the slab

Applying values we get

`\Delta L=18* 10* 10^(-3) * (-16-24)\\\\\therefore \Delta L=7.2mm`