By what amount will a 178 m long concrete slab on the Mackinac Bridge contract when going from +39C to -35C? The linear expansion coefficient is 10-5 per C.

Answer 1

deltaL = a*L*deltaT
where deltaL is the change in length, a s the linear expansion coefficient, L0 is it's initial length, deltaT is the final temperature

deltaL = 10^-5*178*(-35 - 39)