suppose a railroad rail is 1 kilometer long and it expands on a hot day by 10 centimeters in length. how high would the center of the rail rise above the ground?

Question

suppose a railroad rail is 1 kilometer long and it expands on a hot day by 10 centimeters in length.  how high would the center of the rail rise above the ground?

mrnood · Answer

First:
railways are designed to NOT do this otherwise there would be crashes every jot day

Second:
It depends on how you model the shape of the curve that it makes.

Since the effects are VERY small I suggest you use 2 triangles for simplicity:

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Use Pythagoras to estimate h