Two Physical Phenomena
in One Experiment
José Naranjo Torres, Instituto Universitario de Tecnología de Maracaibo, Maracaibo, Venezuela
I
n the physics laboratory, apparatus is normally
used to illustrate a single theory or physical law.
The apparatus used to study the principle of lin-
ear thermal expansion of solids, such as that manu-
factured by PASCO scientific1, provides a bonus.
In addition to using this apparatus for its original
purpose, it can also be used to illustrate Newton’s law
of cooling in the course of a single laboratory period.
Linear Thermal Expansion of Solids2
As the temperature of a solid increases, the average
separation between its atoms or molecules also increas-
es. The expression relating the length L of the solid at a
temperature T is:
L − L0 ∆L
α= = ,
L0 (T −T0 ) L0∆T
where α is the coefficient of linear thermal expansion
of the solid, and L0 is its original length at tempera-
ture T0.
Newton’s Law of Cooling3
Newton’s law of cooling models the change in the
temperature of a solid as a function of time. The rate
of change of the temperature of the body is propor-
tional to the difference between its own temperature
and the temperature of its surroundings. The solution
to this implicit differential equation is:
−kt
T = T0 − (T0 −Tm )e ,
(2)
where k is a constant, T0 the temperature of the sur-
roundings, T (T > T0 ) the temperature of the body
438
in a given instant of time t, and Tm initial tempera-
ture of the body.
Experimental Procedure
The initial length of the aluminium bar, good to
1 mm, and the initial temperature T0 (1ºC) are
measured. The bar is placed in the thermal expansion
apparatus and the zero point is set. This setting is good
to 0.01 mm. The steam-generating mechanism is
turned on and the length of the bar is allowed to reach
its equilibrium value at a temperature of 100ºC.
The steam-generating system is now turned off, and
a stopwatch is started. The length and time are mea-
sured at temperature intervals of 2ºC. Data are taken
until the temperature reaches 50ºC.
(1)
Results and Analysis
Table I shows typical data from this experiment.
Linear Thermal Expansion of Solids: The coefficient
of thermal expansion α is calculated for each ∆L and
∆T using Eq. (1). It is essentially constant and so an
average can be obtained along with its standard devi-
ation. Or it can be found from the slope of a length-
versus-temperature graph, thus making it possible to
find the standard deviation in its value. The experi-
mental value for the coefficient of thermal expansion
is thus 23.3  10-6  0.4  10-6, which compares
favorably with the handbook value of 23.8  10-6.4
Newton’s Law of Cooling: In Table I it can be seen
that the temperature of the body decreases rapidly
when it is at a high temperature and decreases more
THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 44, October 2006
Table I. Experimental results for the experiments.
100
o
T0 = 25 C L0 = 600 mm

T ∆L t ∆T = T– T0 90
o o
( C) (mm) (s) ( C)
80

99 0.99 0 74

T (oC)
70
96 0.97 60 71
94 0.94 74 69
60
92 0.92 86 67
90 0.9 108 65
50
88 0.87 126 63
86 0.85 140 61 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

84 0.82 165 59 t (s)

82 0.79 190 57 Fig. 1. Graph of temperature in function of the time.
80 0.77 215 55
78 0.74 242 53 Conclusions and Acknowledgments
76 0.71 270 51 The experiment gives information that enables us to
74 0.68 300 49 calculate the value of the coefficient of linear thermal
72 0.66 328 47 expansion and also allows us to study Newton’s law
70 0.63 360 45 of cooling, both in the same laboratory period. I want
68 0.60 392 43 to thank Carlos Durante and Arelis Arteaga and the
66 0.58 422 41 Physical Sciences Departments of the Faculties of
64 0.55 461 39 Sciences and Engineering of the University of
62 0.52 498 37 Zulia for the support given to this project.
60 0.50 537 35
58 0.47 582 33 References
56 0.44 630 31
1. PASCO scientific, 10101 Foothills Blvd., Roseville, CA
95747; http://www.pasco.com.
54 0.42 685 29
2. Raymond A. Serway and John W. Jewitt, Physics for Sci-
52 0.39 732 27
entists and Engineers, 6th ed. (Thompson Brooks/Cole,
50 0.36 801 25 2004), pp. 586–590.
3. Clifford Swartz and Thomas Miner, Teaching Introduc-
slowly when the body approaches the ambient tem- tory Physics: A Sourcebook (American Institue of Physics,
perature. The useful data start at 60 seconds because 1997), p. 257.
of the ambient conditions, during which the steam 4. Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 41st ed. (Chemical
is turned off. Consequently, the second data point Rubber Publishing Co., 1960), p. 2239. The value giv-
is the first one plotted and all of the times have 60 s en is the average value of α over the temperature range
subtracted from them. Figure 1 is a graph of T versus 0°C – 100ºC.
t and as expected, is a decreasing exponential func- 5. Volker Thomsen, “Response time of a thermometer,”
tion, starting with a temperature of 96ºC. Fitting a Phys. Teach. 36, 540–541 (Dec. 1998).
decreasing exponential to this graph gives: PACS codes: 01.50.Pa, 01.50.Qb, 01.55.+b

 −τ
T = 33.8°C + (61.2°C) exp  6 
 5.61×10 s 
In Eq. (3), τ is the time constant is a
measure of the response time of the system.5

. (3) José Naranjo Torres is an assistant professor of physics
at the Instituto Universitario de Tecnología de Maracaibo
(IUTM). His degrees are a B.Sc. in physics and M.Sc.
in geophysics from University of the Zulia. His research
background is in solid state and geophysics.
Coordinación de Física, Instituto Universitario de
Tecnología de Maracaibo (IUTM), Urb. La Floresta
Av. 85, Maracaibo, Venezuela; naranjo64@cantv.net /
jnaranjo@universia.edu.ve

THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 44, October 2006 439