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Expansion of Liquids | Tutorvista.com
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Taylor Expansion
Expansion of Liquids
Chromatography Liquid
Liquids do not have a definite shape. They take the shape of the container. Thus, we
Liquid Hydrocarbons
can specify a liquid by its volume. Hence, we can speak of volume expansion only for
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liquids. Expansion of liquids is much greater than that of solids.
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Liquid Phase
Liquid Solutions
Properties of Liquids
Binomial Expansion Equation
Exponential Series Expansion
Fourier Series Expansion
Examples
A liquid is heated in a container. Heat flows through the container to the liquid. Which
means that the container expands first, due to which the level of the liquid falls. When
the liquid gets heated, it expands more and beyond its original level. We cannot
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observe the intermediate state. We can only observe the initial and the final levels.
This observed expansion of the liquid is known as the apparent expansion of the liquid.
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If we consider the expansion of the container also and measure the total expansion in
volume of the liquid, then the expansion is termed as the absolute expansion of the
liquid.
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Expansion of container with liquid
In the figure L1 represents the original level at the level of the liquid first falls to
L2, because the container gets heat first.
When the liquid gets heated, it expands much more than the container and its level
rises to L3.
We can only observe the increase in level from L1 to L3. Intermediate level L2 goes
unnoticed. The expansion we measure is the apparent expansion of the liquid. The
corresponding coefficient is coefficient of apparent expansion.
The coefficient of apparent expansion is defined as the ratio of apparent increase in
volume of the liquid to its original volume for every degree rise in temperature.
Coefficient of apparent expansion
If we evaluate the increase in volume of the liquid taking into
account the expansion of the vessel also, then we say it is absolute expansion of the
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Expansion of Liquids | Tutorvista.com
liquid. We can show that,
The coefficient of absolute expansion of a liquid = coefficient of apparent expansion +
coefficient of cubical expansion of the material of the container.
Liquid
γ value at 20 °C
Water
21x10­5/°C
Benzene
122x10­5/°C
Mercury
18x10­5/°C
We may observe that liquids expand ten times more than solids.
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