Image: Gravesande ring
Description: Diagram of a Gravesande ring, an experiment demonstrating thermal expansion which is used in physics education. It consists of a small metal ball suspended from a stand by a chain. Below it is a metal ring. The ring is just big enough so when the ball and ring are at the same temperature, the ball can just fit through the ring. However, when the ball is heated by a spirit lamp as shown here, the metal expands and it's diameter increases, so it can no longer fit through the ring.
Title: Gravesande ring
Credit: Cours de physique de l'École polytechnique, t. 2, 1er fasc.: Thermométrie et dilatations, Paris: Gauthier-Villars et fils (4e édition augmentée et entièrement refondue), p. 4 facsimile on Gallica Document downloaded using the form, only page 4, in TIFF format. Got a N0077253_TIFF_13_13.tif file. Cropped and converted it into PNG using The GIMP (551x743+806+637).
Author: Jules-Célestin Jamin (died in 1886) and Edmond Bouty (died in 1922) for the École polytechnique.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No
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