Thermal Expansion Lab Page OneIn this lab, students passed steam through tubes made of different materials. One end of the tube was clamped down with the other held in place only by the force exerted by a rubber band. A cardboard dial attached to a dissecting pin was used to amplify the expansion of the tubes. The dissecting pin acted as an axle with the wheel being the cardboard dial. The axle was placed between the free end of the tube and a smooth piece of plastic. A rubber band held the tube tight against the dial axle. As the tubes expanded, the dial rotated. Students recorded the degrees of rotation caused by the expansion of each tube. Two or more trials were run on each tube and the mean of the readings was calculated. Students were then able to develop conclusions regarding the thermal expansion characteristics of the different types of material.
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