What is modulus of elasticity mean in plain English, non-engineering term? - Yahoo! Ans...

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What is modulus of elasticity mean in plain English, non-engineering term?

1 year ago Report Abuse

Billie

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Modulus in general, means measure of stiffness, specific to the "flavor" of material (of course I do not mean you use
your tongue to taste the flavor). Any type of modulus is unconcerned if you are using your material for a spring,
beam, cable, or any other member, it is simply a property of the flavor of material.

There do exist three different types of moduli (plural of modulus) for materials which respond to loads the same in all
directions (termed isotropic materials). Examples of such materials are metal, glass, and plastic. Wood would be a
more complicated material, termed anisotropic.

The three types of moduli are the modulus of elasticity (also called elastic modulus or Young's modulus), modulus of
rigidity (also called shear modulus), and the bulk modulus. It turns out that only two of them are independent, and the
third is dependent on the other two.

Elastic modulus is for straight line loading. It is the normal stress you apply divided by normal stress observed, in the
reversible elastic region of the stress-strain curve. Think cables and columns which are either stretched or
compressed. It is applicable in beam theory, but it is more complicated. If you apply normal stress to a rectangle and
it undergoes normal stain, it is still a rectangle.

Shear modulus is for change in shape. You originally have a rectangle, and you slide its sides such that it becomes a
rhombus. Shear modulus, similarly defined, is the shear stress divided by shear strain.

Bulk modulus discusses applied pressure and volume change. Applied pressure is the overall stress, and volume
change over original volume is the volumetric strain.
1 year ago Report Abuse
100% 1 Vote

gintable

Search Yahoo! for length of rectangle iron will bend

Other Answers (2)

"Modulus of Elasticity" or "Elastic Modulus" is the mathematical description of something's tendency or ability
to be temporarily deformed when a force is applied to it. From what I'm reading, the elastic modulus is an idea
of how much force you can apply to something and how far it will deform before it deforms permanently or
breaks.

For example, if you push on a sheet of steel, it bends and deforms, but as soon as the force is removed it
returns to its usual shape. If you push on that same sheet of steel hard enough, you will actually bend it. The
modulus of elasticity can tell you how hard you can push on the steel, or how far it will bend before it
permanently bends that way.

Source(s):
Kitty Kymaera

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_modulus
The Science Clarified website, http://www.scienceclarified.com/everyday/Real-Life-Chemistry-Vol-

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100323145109AAFnmZc 13/3/2011
What is modulus of elasticity mean in plain English, non-engineering term? - Yahoo! Ans... Page 2 of 2

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Simply put if we have a stiff material, such as steel, that only elongates by a small amount when subject to a
force, it has a large value of "Y" the modulus of elasticity of the material.

Some values for comparison are listed below

Steel .................22 x 10^10 N / m^2
Cast Iron .......... 15
Aluminium.........7.0
Nylon.................0.36
Bone (long)......3.2

In the relationship Change in length / original length = 1/ Y (Force / cross-sectional area)

Y is the constant of proportionality - Young's modulus of elasticity.
This equation states that the fractional elongation is directly proportional to the applied force, and inversely
proportional to the area. Here the constant is traditionally written as 1/Y so it divides the right side instead of
multiplying it.
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David

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100323145109AAFnmZc 13/3/2011