College Physics with MasteringPhysics 7th Edition by Jerry Wilson,Anthony Buffa,Bo Lou

Exercise 10

When railroad tracks are installed, gaps are left between the rails. (a) Should a greater gap be used if the rails are installed on (1) a cold day or (2) a hot day Or (3) does the temperature not make any difference Why (b) Each steel rail is 8.0 m long and has a cross-sectional area of 0.0025 m 2. On a hot day, each rail thermally expands as much as 3.0 × 10 -3 m If there were no gaps between the rails, what would be the force on the ends of each rail