A man’s gold wedding ring has an inner diameter of 2.4 cm at 20oC.?

Question

If the ring is dropped into boiling water, what will be the change in the inner diameter of the ring?

Answer 1

The coefficient of linear expansion for gold α is about .000014 2 1/ degrees-C. The change in the diameter ΔL will be

ΔL = L α ΔT

where L is your original diameter and ΔT the change in termperature (80 degrees C). The diameter will be larger, not smaller; add ΔL to the original diameter to get the answer.