Physics › Section C · Forces and Newton's laws › Topic C.8
Elasticity: stress and strain
Every force changes the shape of what it acts on, even if only by a fraction of a millimetre. Stress, strain and the elastic moduli let engineers predict how much a cable stretches, a beam bends or a liquid squeezes, and when a material will give way.
In this topic
- Forces change shape
- Hooke's law
- Worked example: calibrating a spring
- Stress and strain
- Young's modulus
- Typical elastic moduli
- Worked example: a steel wire under load
- Shear: a sideways deformation
- Bulk modulus: squeezing from all sides
- Beyond the elastic range
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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