Thermal expansion

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Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to increase in size with increasing temperature. Matter generally increases in length, area, and volume, changing its size and density, in response to an increase in temperature (usually excluding phase transitions). Substances usually contract with decreasing temperature which is called thermal contraction. The SI unit of thermal expansion is the inverse kelvin (K−1). Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a body. The faster the molecules are moving, the higher that body's temperature is. Specifically, it is a monotonic function of the average molecular kinetic energy of a substance. As the energy in the particles increases, they start moving faster and faster, weakening the intermolecular forces between them and therefore expanding the substance. When a substance is heated, molecules begin to vibrate and move more, usually creating more distance between them. The relative expansion (also called strain) divided...

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