Feel the Stress
Working individually or in groups, students explore the concept of stress (compression) through physical experience and math. They discover why it hurts more to poke themselves with mechanical pencil lead than with an eraser. Then they prove why this is so by using the basic equation for stress and applying the concepts to real engineering problems.
Have you ever tried to feel the stress of materials?Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Mitchell. Used with permission.
Civil engineers design many different types of structures to resist forces, such as buildings that withstand both gravity and the earthquake forces. Making sure structures can withstand these forces safely is the ultimate goal. Engineers perform careful analysis of the design of these structures to identify the stresses in individual structural components when the structures themselves are subjected to forces. Then, they determine whether or not each component can handle the stress, based on the material type. It is important for engineers to understand how geometry and configuration affect stress in a structural component, both mathematically and intuitively, to be able to design efficient and safe structures.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain the concept of stress, both intuitively and mathematically.
- Explain why stress is important when designing a structure.
- Relate a real experience to mathematical equations.