does concrete shrink or expand in the heat?

Answer 1

It expands. Just like railway tracks.
And when the surrounding temperature drops, concrete and railway tracks will contracts too, due to the movement of particles in the object closer together as temperature decreases.

In summary, when particles gain energy (exposed to heat-Sun or fire..) its particles move further apart, causing the object to expand. When particles looses energy (undergo cooling process- freezing or condensation..) its particles move closer together, causing the object to contract. =D

Answer 2

Does Concrete Expand

Answer 3

Expand.

During heat transfer, the energy that is stored in the intermolecular bonds between atoms changes. When the stored energy increases, so does the length of the molecular bond. As a result, solids typically* expand in response to heating and contract on cooling; this response to temperature change is expressed as its coefficient of thermal expansion:

The expansion and contraction of material must be considered when designing large structures, when using tape or chain to measure distances for land surveys, when designing molds for casting hot material, and in other engineering applications when large changes in dimension due to temperature are expected.

Here is the coefficient of linear thermal expansion for several materials. The values are in 10-6/K at 20 °C.

Mercury 60
Lead 29
Aluminum 23
Brass 19
Stainless steel 17.3
Copper 17
Gold 14
Nickel 13
Concrete 12
Iron or Steel 12
Carbon steel 10.8
Platinum 9
Glass 8.5
Tungsten 4.5
Glass, Pyrex 3.3
Silicon 3
Diamond 1

Answer 4

The concrete ex[ands on heating. The coefficient of expansion is nearly the same as iron. That is the reason why iron is best suitable for reinforcement of concrete. Any other material (say copper or brass for example) will expand more than concrete and will lose grip in concrete.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Concrete expands when heated.
When you drive on a concrete road, you'll see it's constructed in sections and the sections have gaps between them filled with a flexible compound that allows for the expansion and contraction with change in temperature.
Without this, if the concrete is laid in a continuous strip, it would warp and buckle and crack under temperature changes..

Answer 6

If the concrete mixture was very wet when applied then some shrinkage can occur, but well established concrete shouldn't shrink in the heat it's usually the earth around the concrete that shrinks giving the impression that the concrete has shrunk.

Answer 7

There are 2 types of concrete 1 the type that has cracked. 2 the type that has not cracked yet.

Answer 8

almost all matter expands when heated and shrinks when cooled.

it is just usually a question of..How much?

Answer 9

In the Universe in which we live the laws of Physics are pretty much standard.
Heat-----Expansion
Cold-----Contraction.
The rate/amount of expansion will be differ for most materials/elements.
Concretes expansion/contraction properties are very small.

Answer 10

With heat it expands thats why it is supposed kept under walter/cold to keep it stronger.