 Generalized Hooke's law

o stress

 A stress is a force or combination of

forces distributed throughout the whole

of an object that acts to deform it.
 Stresses take the general form of force

divided by area (F/A).

 The SI unit of stress is

the pascal or newton per meter

sqared [Pa = N/m ] 2

o strain

 A strain is any deformation of an object

measured geometrically as a fraction of

some original value.
 Strains take the general form of a

change in one geometric quantity

divided by the original value of that
quantity or a similar quantity with the
same unit (∆ℓ/ℓ , ∆V/V , etc.).
0 0

 Strains are always dimensionless or

unitless ratios [m/m, m /m , etc.]

3 3

o modulus (plural, moduli)

 Stress is directly proportional to strain.

 An elastic modulus is the ratio of some

stress to the strain caused by that stress.

 The SI unit of all elastic moduli is

the pascal or newton per meter

squared [Pa = N/m ], 2

but gigapascals [1 GPa = 10  Pa] are 9

more commonly used.

 Elastic moduli are properties of

materials, not the objects made from

those materials.
 Tension and compression
o stress

 Tensile stress is the normal force per

area (σ = F/A) that causes an object to

increase in length.
 Compressive stress is the normal force

per area (σ = F/A) that causes an object

to decrease in length.
o strain

 Tensile strain is the fractional increase in

length of an object (ε = ∆ℓ/ℓ ) due to a

0

tensile stress.
 Compressive strain is the fractional

decrease in length of an object (ε = ∆ℓ/ℓ )

0

due to a compressive stress.

o modulus

 Young's modulus or elastic modulus is

the ratio of tensile stress to tensile

strain or compressive stress to
compressive strain.
 The symbol for Young's modulus

is E (for élasticité) or Y (for
Young).
F ∆ℓ σ = E
 = E 
A ℓ0 ε
o Poisson's ratio
 Axial strain in one sense is usually

accompanied by transverse strain in the

opposite sense.
 Tensile stress makes objects

longer and thinner.
  Compressive stress makes
objects shorter and fatter.
 The negative ratio of transverse strain
(∆y/y  or ∆z/z ) to axial strain (∆x/x ) is
0 0 0

called Poisson's ratio.
 The symbol for Possion's ratio

is ν (nu).
∆y/y0 ∆z/z0
ν = −   = − 
∆x/x0 ∆x/x0
 Shear
o stress
 Shear stress is the tangential force per
area (τ = F/A) that causes one face of
an object to become displaced parallel
to the opposite face.
 Shear stress changes rectangles

into parallelograms.
o strain
Shear strain is the fractional tangential
displacement relative to the normal
distance between opposite parallel faces
(γ = ∆x/y) caused by a shear stress.
 Shear strain is the tangent of the

shear angle.
o modulus
 The shear modulus or rigidity

modulus is the ratio of shear stress to

shear strain.
 The symbol for shear modulus

is G (for glissement) or S (for
shear)
F  =  ∆ τ = G
 x
G  γ
A y
 Bulk
o stress
 Pressure is the compressive stress
(P = F/A) applied uniformly to all
surfaces of an object.
 Uniform compression or

decompression changes the

volume of objects but not their
shape.
o strain
Volume strain is the fractional change
in volume of an object (θ = ∆V/V ) due
0

to a change in pressure.
o modulus
 The bulk modulus or compression

modulus is the ratio of the increase in

pressure to the relative decrease in
volume.
 The symbol for bulk modulus

is K (for kompression) or B (for
bulk).
∆
F P = Κ
 = K  V
θ
A V0
 The reciprocal of bulk modulus is
called compressibility.
 The symbol for compressibility

is β (beta) or κ (kappa).
1
β = 
K
 The SI unit of compressibility is
the inverse pascal [Pa ].
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