Yes it is. Did you know that gaps are put on the bridge so that it has room to expand when it gets hot?
Really? How does that work?
Well , suppose the bridge has a gap of 1.3 cm when the temperature is 22 degrees celsius, and the gap narrows to 0.9 cm when the temperature warms to 30 degrees celsius.
If it's 35 degrees celsius out here now, how wide is the gap in the bridge?
The gap would be 0.65 centimeters wide. If it was -10 degrees celsius, the gap would be 2.9 cm wide.
Well, I know that the gap width decreases by 0.05 centimeters for each degree celsius when it starts at 2.4 cm.
How did you figure that out?
So, that means that -0.05 represents the change in the gap width over the change in temerapture.
Yes that's correct!
So, the gap is closed when it's 48 degrees celsius, and the gap is 2.4 cm wide when the temperature is 0 degrees celsius.
The information can also be used to find out what the temperature is when the gap width is 0 cm, and what the gap width is when the temperature is 0 degrees cesius.
