A steel aircraft carrier is 403 m long when moving through the icy North Atlantic at a temperature of 1.22 °C. By how much does the carrier lengthen when it is traveling in the warm Mediterranean Sea at a temperature of 24.0 °C?

it expands by 11 cm.

Explanation:

First we need the coefficient of linear thermal expansion of steel

a = 12e-6/K

Now we use the equation for linear thermal expansion

L1 = L0 * (1 + a * (t1 - t0))

Where

L0: length before expansion

L1: expanded length

t0: temperature before expansion

t1: temperature expanded

L1 = 403 * (1 + 12e-6 * (24 - 1.22)) = 403.11 m

It expanded 11 cm.