A Glass thermometer contains 1 cubic centimeter of Mercury.?

Question

If the column of mercury is 0.5mm in diameter,what will be the distance that the mercury rises up the tube for a temperature change of 20K? Neglect the expansion of the glass tube.

Help please, cannot do this at all. :)

Answer 1

You need to know the coefficient of thermal expansion for this.  That will give you change in volume/degree kelvin and should be available in the back of a good physics book (perhaps also Wiki).  Multiply this by 20 to get total volume change.  Total volume change/area=height change. (Area=pi*r^2=pi/16).

Hope this helps.

Dr. Scott

Answer 2

volume expansion of Hg is 0.181 x 10-3 cm³/cm³C

so 1cm³ x 0.181e-3 x 20 = 3.62e-3 cm³

A volume of 3.62e-3 cm³ is what height in the tube.

cylinder

V = πr²h

r = 0.25 mm = 0.025cm

3.62e-3 cm³ = π(0.025)²h

h = 1.843 cm

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