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- Mar 26, 2018
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One fun experiment, the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion of optical glass is approximately 8.0 compared to that of tool steel (5.8). The thermal conductivity is roughly 1.0 W/(m*K) compared to that of tool steel (20).
I guess this means the glass block is 20x slower to pick up heat from my hand, but will expand 1.4x that of a similar block of tool steel.
In all, that means if the block warms up to the temperature of my hand from room temperature, it will grow in thickness by 0.7 tenths. Not bad
Steel would only grow by 0.5 tenths but it would happen faster.
I guess this means the glass block is 20x slower to pick up heat from my hand, but will expand 1.4x that of a similar block of tool steel.
In all, that means if the block warms up to the temperature of my hand from room temperature, it will grow in thickness by 0.7 tenths. Not bad
Steel would only grow by 0.5 tenths but it would happen faster.