8.

1 Stress and strain

Question 1
A wire of original length 3.00 m and cross-sectional area 0.50 mm2 is stretched by a longitudinal force of 120 N.
a) What is the stress on the wire?
b) If the extension is 0.20 cm, what is the strain?

Question 2
Two springs P and Q have force constants of 4.0 N cm-1 and 2.0 N cm-1 respectively.

a) A load of 10 N is hung from the lower end of each spring.

What is the extension of (i) spring P and (ii) spring Q?

b) If the springs are joined in series, what is the total extension when a load of 10 N hangs from the lower end of
the combined spring?

Question 3

A wire P of natural length l, has a cross-sectional area A and the Young’s modulus of its material is E.

a) Find an expression for the force constant k of the wire in terms of l, A and E.

b) Another wire Q of the same material but is of length 2l and half the diameter of wire P. Deduce the force
constant of wire Q in terms of k.

Question 4

Extension P

Force

The extension-force graph for two wires P and Q are as shown. If all the other quantities are the same for
the two wires which of the following statements could possibly be true? a) Force constant of P twice that of
Q.
b) Young’s modulus of P is half that of Q.

c) Length of P twice that of Q.

d) Diameter of P twice that of Q.

Question 5

In Searle’s method to determine the Young’s modulus of the material of a wire two thin long identical wires are used.

a) Explain the reason of using thin long wires.

b) What is the reason for using two identical wires?

c) What measurement in the experiment contributes the most percentage error in the determination of the
Young’s modulus? Explain your answer.

Question 6

A steel wire and a brass wire of the same length and cross-sectional area are joined in parallel. The upper ends of
the two wires are clamped, and a load hangs from the lower ends of the wire. If the Young’s modulus of steel is
twice that of brass, compare (i) the extensions of the wires.
 (ii) the tension in the wires.

Question 7

Two men stretched a rope of cross-sectional area 5.0 cm2 and natural length 2.00 m, each applying a force of 400 N
at each end.

Calculate

(i) the stress on the rope,

(ii) the strain, if the extension is 2.00 cm,

(iii) the Young’s modulus of the material of the rope.

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10

Question 11

Question 12