[Encyclios]

Thermal properties of solids

Thermal properties of solids include thermal conductivity, which is the property of a material that indicates its ability to conduct heat. Solids also have a specific heat capacity, which is the capacity of a material to store energy in the form of heat (or thermal lattice vibrations).

Thermal volume expansion of solids. When a certain amount of heat is administered to a solid, this effect affects a volume expansion (i.e., three-dimensional), due to the thermal effect of the temperature increase. Vice versa, if heat is removed, the solid will shrink due to the decrease in temperature.

The expansion is not always uniform in all dimensions, but some may be more evident than others depending on the geometric shape of the solid. For example, a beam will undergo a more evident longitudinal expansion (along with its prevailing dimension: i.e., the length) rather than transversely (i.e., in thickness).

The physical law that regulates this thermal expansion is the following:

\[V = V_0(1 + \alpha\Delta T)\]

where: \(V\) is the final volume, \(V_0\) is the initial volume, α is the coefficient of volume expansion of the body, ΔT is the temperature variation during the expansion process.