Chapter 10 – Elastic Properties of Solids and Liquids

1. A force of 10 N stretches a spring 50 cm. Find the force constant of the spring. If you wish to stretch
the spring an additional 25 cm, what total force will be required?
2. From the values in Table 1, calculate Y for aluminum and for steel in dynes per square centimeter.
Ans. 6.9 x 1011 dyn/cm2; 20 x 1011 dyn/cm2.
3. From the values in Table 1, calculate Y for aluminum and for steel in newtons per square meter.
4. How much will a steel wire 20 ft long and 2.20 in in diameter stretch when a load of 200 lb is hung
on it?
Ans. 0.053 in
5. Compute the elongation of the aluminum wire of 40 mil (0.040 in) diameter and the 60-mil copper
wire in the arrangement of Fig. 10-10.
Fig. 10-10

6. How much will an annealed steel rod 100 ft long and 0.0400 in 2 in cross section be stretched by a
force of 1,000 lb?
Ans. 1.03 in
7. A hollow metal post is 10.0 ft long, and the cross-sectional area of the metal is 2.5 in 2. When a load
of 25.0 tons is applied on top of it, the length decreases 0.0100 ft. Compute (a) the stress, (b) the
strain, and (c) Young’s modulus.
8. A wire 1,000 in long and 0.010 in 2 in cross section is stretched 4.0 in by a force of 2,000 lb. What are
(a) the stretching stress, (b) the stretching strain, and (c) Young’s modulus?
Ans. 2.0 x 105 lb/in2; 0.00040; 5.0 x 107 lb/in2
9. A steel wire 2.0 m long and a copper wire 1.0 m long, each 0.5 cm 2 in cross section, are fastened
together end to end and are then subjected to tension of 10,000 N. Calculate the elongation of each
wire.
10. A steel wire 100 cm long having a cross-sectional area of 0.025 cm 2 is stretched a distance of 0.30
cm. What is the stretching force?
Ans. 340 lb or 1.5 x 108 dyn
11. Many high-voltage electrical cables have a solid steel core to support the aluminum wires that carry
most of the current. Assume that the steel is 0.50 in in diameter, that each of the 12 aluminum
wires has a diameter of 0.13 in, and that the strain is the same in the steel and the aluminum. If the
total tension is 1.0 ton, what is the tension sustained by the steel?
12. A load of 9.0 tons is imposed on a vertical steel support 18 ft high having a cross-sectional area of
3.0 in2. How much is the column shortened by the load?
Ans. 0.045 in

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 Chapter 10 – Elastic Properties of Solids and Liquids

13. Could a steel piano wire 1.0 m long be stretched 8.0 mm without exceeding its static limit, which is
about 1.20 x 105 lb/in2 (or 8.26 x 108 N/m2)?
14. A steel wire 8.0 ft long has a cross section of 0.050 in2. When a stretching force of 1,600 lb is
applied, the wire increases 0.106 in. in length. (a) What is the stress in the wire? (b) What is Young’s
modulus for the wire?
Ans. 32,000 lb/in2; 2.9 x 107 lb/in2.
15. Young’s modulus for the tendon in a man’s leg is 1.6 x 10 8 N/m2. If the tendon is 10 cm long and 0.45
cm in diameter, how much will it be stretched by a force of 10 N?
16. A steel wire ½ mi long bangs vertically in a deep well. How much does it stretch under its own
weight? The density of steel is 7.85 g/cm 3. (Suggestion: Compute the average elongation per unit
length at the middle of the wire.)
Ans. 0.408 ft
17. Fibers of spun glass have been found capable of sustaining unusually large stresses. Calculate the
breaking stress of a fiber 0.00035 in in diameter, which broke under a load of 0.385 oz.
18. To maintain 200 in3 of water at a reduction of 1 percent in volume requires a force per unit area of
3,400 lb/in2. What is the bulk modulus of the water?
Ans. 3.4 x 105 lb/in2.
19. A 3,628-kg freight car moving along a horizontal railroad spur track at 7.2 km/h strikes a bumper
whose coil springs experience a maximum compression of 30 cm in stopping the car. Calculate the
elastic potential energy of the spring at the instant when they are compressed 15 cm.
20. If the density of seawater is 1.03 g/cm 3 at the surface, what is its density at a depth where the
pressure is 109 dyn/cm2?
Ans. 1.08 g/cm3.
21. A 5-kg projectile is fired horizontally from an 1,800-kg gun at a muzzle speed of 360 m/s. The initial
recoil energy of the gun is completely transformed into potential energy of a spring. What should be
the force constant of the spring to limit the recoil to 0.60 m?
22. A 4.0-ft-square steel plate 1.0 in thick is supported vertically with its lower edge fixed rigidly. Shear
stress is applied, and the upper edge is observed to move parallel to the lower edge through 0.020
in. Find the shear strain.
Ans. 0.00042.
23. At the surface of the ocean the normal force per unit area on a body is 15 lb/in 2. At a depth of
10,000 ft below the surface it is 64 x 104 lb/ft 2. By what fraction is the volume of an aluminum
sphere reduced as it is lowered from the surface to a 10,000-ft depth?
24. A 12-in cubical block of sponge has two parallel and opposite forces of 2.5 lb each applied to
opposite faces. If the angle of shear is 0.020 rad, calculate the relative displacement and the shear
modulus.
Ans. 0.24 in; 0.87 lb/in2.
25. When a 2.4-kg block is attached to the end of a spring hanging vertically, the spring experiences an
elongation of 5.0 cm. What is the potential energy of the stretched spring?
26. A 2.0-in cube of gelatin has its upper surface displaced ¼ in by a tangential force of 1.0 oz. What is
the shear modulus of gelatin?
Ans. 0.125 lb/in2.

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