The Bimetallic Strip Explained #Shorts

when a block of any material is heated up it tends to expand different materials expand different amounts based on a material property called the coefficient of thermal expansion now imagine that you take two metals with different coefficients bond them together and heat them up what do you think will happen the material with the larger coefficient

of thermal expansion will try and get longer than the other material and since the two are bonded together the only way for that to happen is by bending this is how the bimetallic strip works it's an incredibly simple but useful device that can be used to convert a change in temperature into a mechanical

displacement here's just one application a thermal circuit breaker if too much current passes through the circuit the bimetallic strip heats up deforms and breaks the contact can you think of any other applications you