In a message dated 97-12-01 06:31:45 EST, madamson@compuserve.com writes:
> When materials get cold, ice is an exception, they shrink. The atoms
> occupy less space due to their decreased activity. Holes in material
> become larger. A piece of material, say a piston, becomes smaller
> therefore increased clearances.
Michael:
If material gets smaller when it gets cold - and it does - how can a hole get
larger? Since the interior of a hole is lined with material, and the material
gets smaller, how can the hole the material is surrounding be bigger?
Ice also shrinks when it gets colder. It's just that in the transition from
water to ice, ice occupies more space than the water. Same is true on the
other end. Steam, at the same pressure, occupies much more space than the
equivilent quanity of water. If you increase the temperature of steam, again
maintaining the same pressure, it also expands. I don't know of any material
that gets larger as the temperature decreases, but there may be something
that does - pure unobtainium, perhaps?
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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