When railroad tracks are installed, gaps are left between the rails.
(a) Should a greater gap be used if the rails are installed on (1) a cold day or (2) a hot day? Or (3) does the temperature not make any difference? Why?
(b) Each steel rail is 8.0 m long and has a cross-sectional area of 0.0025 m2. On a hot day, each rail thermally expands as much as If there were no gaps between the rails, what would be the force on the ends of each rail?