Final answer:
Thermal expansion affects material behavior when a tank is filled with a cooler substance like gasoline, causing it to potentially overflow as it warms and expands more than the steel tank containing it.
Step-by-step explanation:
When tank is filled with oil or gasoline, the principles of thermal expansion play a significant role in how the substances behave. On a hot day, gasoline that is cooler than the air temperature is introduced into a steel tank. This gasoline initially cools the tank but as both materials warm up due to the air temperature, they expand. Given that gasoline expands more than the tank material, this difference in expansion can cause the gasoline to overflow once it reaches equilibrium with the local air temperature. Similarly, in situations where natural gas or recovered water is stored, thermal expansion can affect how much of a substance a storage facility can safely hold without overflowing. It is always important to consider the properties of the materials in real-world applications such as these.