SOLUTION: Each section of a track from a railroad is 78 feet (936 inches) long. on a very hot day each rail can expand 0.6 inches to 936.6''. If the designers did not include expansion joint

Question 956240: Each section of a track from a railroad is 78 feet (936 inches) long. on a very hot day each rail can expand 0.6 inches to 936.6''. If the designers did not include expansion joints, the rail would buckle (bend in half at the middle but still intact making the two legs of a isosceles triangle). Calculate the height at the center of the buckled rail to the nearest tenth of an inch.
Answer by macston(5194) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
h=height of buckled rail c=1/2 cool rail; h=1/2 heated rail
h=sqrt(h^2-c^2)
h=sqrt(468.3^2-468^2)
h=sqrt(280.89in^2)
h=16.76 inches ANSWER: The middle of the rail would be 16.75 inches off the ground.

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