Thermal Expansion, Calorimetry and Heat Transfer)

(Thermal Expansion)
(Single Correct type Questions)
1. A rod of length 2m rests on smooth horizontal floor. If the rod is heated from
0°C to 20°C. Find the longitudinal strain developed? (α = 5 × 10–5/°C)
(A) 10–3 (B) 2 x 10–3 (C) Zero (D) None
2. A cuboid ABCDEFGH is anisotropic with αx = 1 × 10–5/°C, αy = 2 × 10–5/°C,
αz = 3 × 10–5/°C. Coefficient of superficial expansion of faces can be

(A) βABCD = 5 × 10–5/°C (B) βBCGH = 4 × 10–5/°C

(C) βCDEH = 3 × 10–5/°C (D) βEFGH = 2 × 10–5/°C

3. A sphere of diameter 7 cm and mass 266.5 gm floats in a bath of a liquid. As

the temperature is raised, the sphere just begins to sink at a temperature
35°C. If the density of a liquid at 0°C is 1.527 gm/cc, then neglecting the
expansion of the sphere, the coefficient of cubical expansion of the liquid is f:
(A) 8.486 × 10–4 per °C (B) 8.486 × 10–5 per °C
(C) 8.486 × 10–6 per °C (D) 8.486 × 10–3 per °C

4. The volume of the bulb of a mercury thermometer at 0°C is V0 and cross

section of the capillary is A0. The coefficient of linear expansion of glass is αg
per°C and the cubical expansion of mercury γm per °C. If the mercury just fills
the bulb at 0°C, what is the length of mercury column in capillary at T°C.
V0 T(γm +3g ) V0 T(γ m - 3 g ) V0 T(γ m +2g ) V0 T(γ m - 2 g )
(A) (B) (C) (D)
A0 (1+2g T) A 0 (1+2 g T) A0 (1+3g T) A 0 (1+3 g T)

5. The loss in weight of a solid when immersed in a liquid at 0°C is W0 and at t°C
is W. If cubical coefficient of expansion of the solid and the liquid by  s and 1
respectively, then W is equal to:
(A) W0 [1+ (γs – γ1) t] (B) W0 [1– (γs – γ1) t]
(C) W0 [(γs – γ1) t] (D) W0 t/(γs – γ1)
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6. A rod of length 2m at 0°C and having expansion coefficient α = (3x + 2) × 10–6
°C–1 where x is the distance (in cm) from one end of rod. The length of rod at
20°C is :
(A) 2.124m (B) 3.24m (C) 2.0120 m (D) 3.124m

7. A steel scale is to be prepared such that the millimeter intervals are to be

accurate within 6 × 10-5 mm. The maximum temperature variation from the
temperature of calibration during the reading of the millimeter marks is
(α = 12 × 10-6 k-1)
(A) 4.0 ºC (B) 4.5 ºC (C) 5.0 ºC (D) 5.5 ºC

8. Two rods of different materials having coefficients of thermal expansion α1, α2

and Young’s moduli Y1, Y2 respectively are fixed between two rigid massive
walls. The rods are heated such that they undergo the same increase in
temperature. There is no bending of the rods. If α1 : α2 = 2 : 3, the thermal
stresses developed in the two rods are equal provided Y1 : Y2 is equal to
(A) 2 : 3 (B) 1 : 1 (C) 3 : 2 (D) 4 : 9

9. If I is the moment of inertia of a solid body having α-coefficient of linear

expansion then the change in I corresponding to a small change in
temperature ΔT is
1
(A) αIΔT (B) αIΔT (C) 2 αIΔT (D) 3 αIΔT
2

10. A metallic wire of length L is fixed between two rigid supports. If the wire is
cooled through a temperature difference ΔT (Y = young’s modulus, ρ = density,
α = coefficient of linear expansion) then the frequency of transverse vibration is
proportional to :
 Y σ σ
(A) (B) (C) (D)
ρY ρ Y Y

11. A metal wire is clamped between two vertical walls. At 20°C the unstrained
length of the wire is exactly equal to the separation between walls. If the
temperature of the wire is decreased the graph between elastic energy density
(u) and temperature (T) of the wire is

(A) (B) (C) (D)

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12. A rod of length 20 cm is made of metal. It expands by 0.075 cm when its
temperature is raised from 0°C to 100°C. Another rod of a different metal B
having the same length expands by 0.045 cm for the same change in
temperature, a third rod of the same length is composed of two parts one of
metal A and the other of metal B. Thus rod expands by 0.06 cm for the same
change in temperature. The portion made of metal A has the length.
(A) 20 cm (B) 10 cm (C) 15 cm (D) 18 cm

13. A thin walled cylindrical metal vessel of linear coefficient of expansion 10-3 °C-1
contains benzene of volume expansion coefficient 10-3 °C-1. If the vessel and its
contents are now heated by 10°C, the pressure due to the liquid at the bottom.
(A) increases by 2% (B) decreases by 1%
(C) decreases by 2% (D) remains unchanged

14. A copper ring has a diameter of exactly 25 mm at its temperature of 0°C. An

aluminium sphere has a diameter of exactly 25.05 mm at its temperature of
100°C. The sphere is placed on top of the ring and two are allowed to come to
thermal equilibrium, no heat being lost to the surrounding. The sphere just
passes through the ring at the equilibrium temperature. The ratio of the mass
of the sphere & ring is: (given : αCu = 17 × 10-6/°C αAl = 2.3 × 10-5/°C, specific
heat of Cu = 0.0923 Cal/g°C and specific heat of Al = 0.215 cal/g°C)
(A) 1/5 (B) 23/108 (C) 23/54 (D) 216/23
15. An open vessel is filled completely with oil which has same coefficient of
volume expansion as that of the vessel. On heating both oil and vessel,
(A) the vessel can contain more volume and more mass of oil
(B) the vessel can contain same volume and same mass of oil
(C) the vessel can contain same volume but more mass of oil
(D) the vessel can contain more volume but same mass of oil

16. A solid ball is completely immersed in a liquid. The coefficients of volume

expansion of the ball and liquid are 3 × 10 -6 and 8 × 10-6 per °C respectively.
The percentage change in upthrust when the temperature is increased by
100°C is
(A) 0.5 % (B) 0.11 % (C) 1.1% (D) 0.05 %

17. If two rods of length L and 2L having coefficients of linear expansion α and 2α
respectively are connected so that total length becomes 3L, the average
coefficient of linear expansion of the composition rod equals :
(A) 3/2 α (B) 5/2 α (C) 5/3 α (D) none of these

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18. The bulk modulus of copper is 1.4 × 1011 Pa and the coefficient of linear
expansion is 1.7 × 105 (C°). What hydrostatic pressure is necessary to prevent
a copper block from expanding when its temperature is increased from 20°C to
30°C?
(A) 6.0 × 105 Pa (B) 7.1 × 107 Pa (C) 5.2 × 106 Pa (D) 40 atm

19. A glass flask contains some mercury at room temperature. It is found that at
different temperature the volume of air inside the flask remains the same. If
the volume of mercury in the flask is 300 cm3 , then volume of the flask is
(given that coefficient of volume expansion of mercury and coefficient of linear
expansion of glass are 1.8 × 10−4 (°C)−1 and 9 × 10−6 (°C)−1 respectively)
(A) 4500 cm3 (B) 450 cm3 (C) 2000 cm3 (D) 6000 cm3

20. A difference of temperature of 25ºC is equivalent to a difference of:

(A) 45º F (B) 72º F (C) 32º F (D) 25º F

21. Two thermometers x and y have fundamental intervals of 80º and 120º. When
immersed in ice, they show the reading of 20º and 30º. If y measures the
temperature of a body as 120º, the reading of x is:
(A) 59º (B) 65º (C) 75º (D) 80º

22. The coefficient of apparent expansion of a liquid in a copper vessel is C and in

a silver vessel is S. The coefficient of volume expansion of copper is C. What is
the coefficient of linear expansion of silver?
( C + γC +S) ( C − γC +S) ( C + γC − S) ( C − γC − S)
(A) (B) (C) (D)
3 3 3 3

23. Two vertical glass tubes filled with a liquid are connected by a capillary tube as
shown in the figure. The tube on the left is put in an ice bath at 0°C while the
tube on the right is kept at 30°C in a water bath. The difference in the levels of
the liquid in the two tubes is 4 cm while the height of the liquid column at 0°C
is 120 cm. The coefficient of volume expansion of liquid is
(Ignore expansion of glass tube)

(A) 22 × 10−4/°C (B) 1.1 × 10−4/°C (C) 11 × 10−4/°C (D) 2.2 × 10−4/°C

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 (Calorimetry)
24. A thermally insulated vessel contains some water 0°C. The vessel is connected
to a vacuum pump to pump out water vapour. This result in some water
getting frozen. It is given Latent heat of vaporization of water 0°C = 21 x 105
J/kg and latent heat of freezing of water = 3.36 x 106 J/kg. The maximum
percentage amount of water that will be solidified in this manner will be
(A) 86.2 % (B) 33.6 % (C) 21% (D) 24.36%

25. 10 gm of ice at 0°C is kept in a calorimeter of water equivalent 10 gm. How

much heat should be supplied to the apparatus to evaporate the water thus
formed? (Neglect loss of heat)
(A) 6200 cal (B) 7200 cal (C) 13600 cal (D) 8200 cal

26. Heat is being supplied at a constant rate to a sphere of ice which is melting at
the rate of 0.1 gm/sec. It melts completely in 100 sec. The rate of rise of
temperature thereafter will be
(Assume no loss of heat.)
(A) 0.8 °C/sec (B) 5.4 °C/sec
(C) 3.6 °C/sec (D) will change with time
27. 1 kg of ice at – 10°Cismixedwith 4.4 kg of water at 30°C.The final temperature
of mixture is: (specific heat of ice is 2100 J/kg/k)
(A) 2.3°C (B) 4.4°C (C) 5.3°C (D) 8.7°C

28. A continuous flow water heater (geyser) has an electrical power rating = 2 kW
and efficiently of conversion of electrical power into heat = 80%. If water is
flowing through the device at the rate of 100 cc/sec, and the inlet temperature
is 10°C, the outlet temperature will be
(A) 12.2°C (B) 13.8°C (C) 20°C (D) 16.5°C

29. A solid material is supplied with heat at a constant rate. The temperature of
material is changing with heat input as shown in the figure. What does slope
DE represent?

(A) latent heat of liquid (B) latent heat of vapour

(C) heat capacity of vapour (D) inverse of heat capacity of vapour
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30. The specific heat of a metal at low temperatures varies according to S = aT 3
where a is a constant and T is the absolute temperature. The heat energy
needed to raise unit mass of the metal from T = 1 K to T = 2 K is
15a 2a 12a
(A) 3a (B) (C) (D)
4 3 5

31. The graph shown in the figure represents change in the temperature of 5kg of
a substance as it absorbs heat at a constant rate of 42 kJ min –1. The latent
heat of vaporization of the substance is :

(A) 630 kJ kg–1 (B) 126 kJ kg–1 (C) 84 kJ kg–1 (D) 12.6 kJ kg–1

32. Find the amount of heat supplied to decrease the volume of an ice water
mixture by 1 cm3 without any change in temperature.
(ρice = 0.9 ρwater, Lice = 80 cal/gm).
(A) 360 cal (B) 500 cal (C) 720 cal (D) None of these

33. Ice at 0°C is added to 200 g of water initially at 70°C in a vacuum flask. When
50 g of ice has been added and has all melted the temperature of the flask and
content is 40°C.When a further 80g of ice has been added and has all melted,
the temperature of the whole is 10°C. Calculate the specific latent heat of
fusion of ice. [Take Sw =1 cal /gm°C.]
(A) 3.8 ×105 J/ kg (B) 1.2 ×105 J/ kg
(C) 2.4 ×105 J/ kg (D) 3.0 ×105 J/ kg

(Heat Transfer)
34. One end of a 2.35 m long and 2.0 cm radius aluminum rod (K = 235 W.m –1K–1)
is held at 20oC. The other end of the rod is in contact with a block of ice at its
melting point. The rate in kg.s–1 at which ice melts is
10
[Take latent heat of fusion for ice as ×105 J.kg −1 ]
3
(A) 48π ×10 −6
(B) 24π ×10 −6
(C) 2.4π ×10 −6 (D) 4.8π ×10−6

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35. Four rods of same material with different radii r and length l are used to
connect two reservoirs of heat at different temperatures. Which one will
conduct most heat ?
(A) r =2cm, l =0.5m (B) r = 2cm, l = 2m
(C) r =0.5cm, l =0.5m (D) r = 1 cm, l = 1 m

36. A cylinder of radius R made of a material of thermal conductivity k 1 is

surrounded by a cylindrical shell of inner radius R and outer radius 2R made
of a material of thermal conductivity k2.The two ends of the combined system
are maintained at different temperatures. There is no loss of heat from the
cylindrical surface and the system is in steady state. The effective thermal
conductivity of the system is
kk 1 1
(A) k1 + k2 (B) 1 2 (C) ( k1 +3k 2 ) (D) ( 3k + k 2 )
k1 + k 2 4 4

37. The wall with a cavity consists of two layers of brick separated by a layer of air.
All three layers have the same thickness and the thermal conductivity of the
brick is much greater than that of air. The left layer is at a higher temperature
than the right layer and steady state condition exists. Which of the following
graphs predicts correctly the variation of temperature T with distance d inside
the cavity?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

38. A rod of length L and uniform cross-sectional area has varying thermal
conductivity which changes linearly from 2K at end A to K at the other end B.
The ends A and B of the rod are maintained at constant temperature 100°C
and 0°C, respectively. At steady state, the graph of temperature :
T= T(x) where x = distance from end A will be

(A) (B) (C) (D)

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39. A ring consisting of two parts ADB and ACB of same conductivity k carries an
amount of heat H. The ADB part is now replaced with another metal keeping
the temperatures T1 and T2 constant. The heat carried increases to 2H.What
ACB
should be the conductivity of the new ADB part? Given = 3.
ADB

7 5
(A) k (B) 2 k (C) k (D) 3 k
3 2

40. Three identical rods AB, CD and PQ are joined as shown. P and Q are mid
points of AB and CD respectively. Ends A, B, C and D are maintained at 0°C,
100°C, 30°C and 60°C respectively. The direction of heat flow in PQ is

(A) from P to Q (B) from Q to P

(C) heat does not flow in PQ (D) data not sufficient

41. Three rods made of the same material and having the same cross-section have
been joined as shown in the figure. Each rod is of the same length. The left
and right ends are kept at 0°C and 90°C respectively. The temperature of the
junction of the three rods will be

(A) 45°C (B) 60°C (C) 30°C (D) 20°C

42. A black metal foil is warmed by radiation from a small sphere at temperature
'T' and at a distance 'd'. It is found that the power received by the foil is P. If
both the temperature and distance are doubled, the power received by the foil
will be :
(A) 16 P (B) 4 P (C) 2 P (D) P
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43. The power radiated by a black body is P and it radiates maximum energy
around the wavelength λ0. If the temperature of the black body is now changed
so that it radiates maximum energy around wave length 3/4λ 0, the power
radiated by it will increase by a factor of
(A) 4/3 (B) 16/9 (C) 64/27 (D) 256/81

44. Star S1 emits maximum radiation of wavelength 420 nm and the star S 2 emits
maximum radiation of wavelength 560 nm, what is the ratio of the
temperature of S1 and S2 :
(A) 4/3 (B) (4/3)1/4 (C) 3/4 (D) (3/4)1/2

45. Spheres P and Q are uniformly constructed from the same material which is a
good conductor of heat and the radius of Q is thrice the radius of P. The rate of
fall of temperature of P is x times that of Q when both are at the same surface
temperature. The value of x is :
(A) 1/4 (B) 1/3 (C) 3 (D) 4

46. The spectral emissive power Eλ for a body a temperature T1 is plotted against
the wavelength and area under the curve is found to be A. At a different
temperature T2 the area is found to be 9A. Then λ1/λ2 =

1 1
(A) 3 (B) (C) (D) 3
3 3

47. Two stars A and B emit radiations with different peak wavelength as seen in
the graph below. The graph is plotted between the total energy emitted per unit
time against the wavelength of radiation. If T represents the temperature of
the star and R its radius,

(A) TA > TB ; RA > RB (B) TA < TB ; RA > RB

(C) TA > TB ; RA < RB (D) TA < TB ; RA < RB

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48. If emissivity of bodies X and Y are ex and ey and absorptive power are Ax and Ay
then

(A) ey > ex; Ay >Ax (B) ey < ex; Ay <Ax

(C) ey > ex; Ay <Ax (D) ey = ex; Ay =Ax

49. A system S receives heat continuously from an electrical heater of power

10W.The temperature of S becomes constant at 50°C when the surrounding
temperature is 20°C. After the heater is switched off, S cools from 35.1°C to
34.9°C in 1minute. The heat capacity of S is
(A) 100J/°C (B) 300J/°C (C) 750J/°C (D) 1500J/°C

50. A is radiating power. It is remoulded into a number of smaller cylinders, each

of which has the same length as original cylinder. Each small cylinder has the
same temperature as the original cylinder. The total radiant power emitted by
the pieces is twice that emitted by the original cylinder. How many smaller
cylinders are there ? Neglect the energy emitted by the flat faces of cylinder.
(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) 6

51. Six identical rods are connected as shown in the figure. The temperatures of
free ends A, B and C are 200°C, 20°C and 20°C respectively. The temperature
of junction D, E and F in °C will be, respectively-

(A) 140, 80, 80 (B) 155, 110, 110 (C) 110, 65, 65 (D) None of these

52. Let the wavelength at which the spectral emissive power of a black body (at a
temperature T) is maximum, be denoted by λmax. As the temperature of the
body is increased by 1K, λmax decreases by 1 percent. The temperature T of the
black body is
(A) 100 K (B) 200 K (C) 400 K (D) 288 K

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53. Three rods of Copper, Brass and Steel are welded together to form a Y-shaped
structure. Area of cross-section of each rod = 4 cm2. End of copper rod is
maintained at 100C where as ends of brass and steel are kept 0C. Lengths of
the copper, brass and steel rods are 46, 13 and 12 cms respectively. The rods
are thermally insulated from surroundings except at ends. Thermal
conductivities of copper, brass and steel are 0.92, 0.26 and 0.12 CGS units
respectively. Rate of heat flow through copper rod is
(A) 2.4 cal/s (B) 4.8 cal/s (C) 6.0 cal/s (D) 1.2 cal/s

54. If specific heat capacity of a substance in solid and liquid state is proportional
to temperature of the substance, then if heat is supplied to the solid initially at
–20°C (having melting point 0°C) at constant rate. Then the temperature
dependence of solid with time will be best represented by:

(A) (B)

(C) (D)

55. A hollow copper sphere and a hollow copper cube, of same surface area and
negligible thickness are filled with warm water of same temperature and placed
in an enclosure of constant temperature, a few degrees below that the bodies.
Then in the beginning:
(A) the rate of energy lost by the sphere is greater than that the by the cube
(B) the rate of fall of temperature for sphere is greater than that for the cube
(C) the rate of energy lost by the sphere is less than that by the cube
(D) the rate of fall of temperature for sphere is less than that for the cube

56. There are two thin spheres A and B of the same material and same thickness.
They emit like black bodies. Radius of A is double that of B. A and B have
same temperature T. When A and B are kept in a room of temperature T 0(<T),
the ratio of their rates of coiling (rate of fall of temperature) is:
[assume negligible heat exchange between A and B]
(A) 2 : 1 (B) 1 : 1 (C) 4 : 1 (D) 8 : 1

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 ANSWER KEY

1. C 2. C 3. A 4. B 5. A 6. C 7. C 8. C 9. C 10. B
11. B 12. B 13. C 14. C 15. D 16. D 17. C 18. B 19. C 20. A
21. D 22. C 23. C 24. A 25. D 26. A 27. D 28. B 29. D 30. B
31. C 32. C 33. A 34. C 35. A 36. C 37. D 38. B 39. A 40. A
41. B 42. B 43. D 44. A 45. C 46. D 47. C 48. A 49. D 50. B
51. C 52. A 53. B 54. C 55. D 56. B

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