4.7.

2 Hooke's Law

Definition A material obeys Hooke’s law if the extension of the material is

directly proportional to the applied force up to the limit of
proportionality.

Spring Constant Is a property of the material being stretched and measures the
stiffness of a material.

Hooke’s Law Graph

Limit of The point beyond which Hooke’s law is no longer true when
Proportionality stretching a material.

Elastic Limit The maximum amount a material can be stretched and still return to
its original length.

4.7.3 Stress & Strain

Tensile Force Forces which stretch an object

Tensile Stress The force exerted per unit cross-sectional area of a material

Where:
σ = tensile stress (Pa)
F = force applied (N)
A = cross-sectional area (m2)

Ultimate Tensile Maximum force per original cross-sectional area a wire is able to
Stress support until it breaks.

Tensile Strain Strain is the extension per unit length

Deformation of a solid due to stress in the form of elongation or
 contraction.

Strain is a dimensionless unit because it is a ratio of lengths.

Stress-Strain Curve These describe the properties of materials such as whether they are
brittle, ductile and up to what stress they obey Hooke’s Law and
have elastic or plastic behaviour.

Each material has a unique stress-strain curve.

Analysing a
stress-strain curve

Key Points Yield Stress: The F/A at which the material extends plastically for
no/small increase in stress

Plastic region: The material has deformed permanently and will not
return to its original shape when the applied force is removed.
4.7.4 Elastic Strain Energy

Graph

Hooke’s Law ●​ For the region where the material obeys Hooke’s law, the
work done is the area of a right-angled triangle under the
graph

Elastic Strain Energy

Breaking Stress The maximum stress a material can stand before it fractures
●​ A material with high breaking stress is considered ductile,
which means it can extend more before breaking because
of plastic deformation

Spring Energy When a vertical spring is extended and contracted, its energy is
converted into other forms

Although the total energy of the spring will remain constant, it will
have changing amounts of:
●​ Elastic potential energy (EPE)
●​ Kinetic energy (KE)
●​ Gravitational potential energy (GPE)
Vertical Mass On A
Spring

Elastic Deformation When the load is removed, the object will return to its original
shape

Plastic Deformation The material is permanently deformed

When the load is removed the object will not return to its original
shape or length

This is beyond the elastic limit and is shown in the plastic region of
the graph

Brittle Brittle materials have very little to no plastic region.

The material breaks with little elastic and insignificant plastic

deformation.

Ductile Ductile materials have a larger plastic region.

The material stretches into a new shape before breaking.

Exam Tip Avoid describing plastic deformation as 'does not obey Hooke's
law'. Although this is mostly correct, it should be described as the
material being permanently deformed.
4.7.6 Energy Conservation

Loading & Unloading

a Metal Wire

Loading & Unloading

a Rubber Band

The graph shows the rubber band stores a greater amount of strain
energy when it is loaded (stretched) than when it is being unloaded
(contracted)

Key Features The key features of the area under the graph are:

●​ Area X is the work done in heating the rubber (or the

increase in thermal energy)

●​ Area Y is the work done by the rubber when it is returned to

its original shape

●​ Area X + Y represents the work done in stretching the

rubber band originally

However, due to the conservation of energy, the difference in strain

energy when loading and unloading must be accounted for
 A rubber band becomes warm when it is stretched and contracted
hence some energy is transferred to heat energy.

Energy Conservation Vehicle suspension systems are made up of tires, springs and
Issues shock absorbers which provide comfortable handling of a vehicle
and improve the comfort of passengers.

●​ Roads are often very bumpy filled with potholes and speed
bumps

●​ A bump in the road causes the wheel of a vehicle to move

up and down perpendicular to the road surface.

●​ If a wheel loses contact with the road surface, it will slam

back down again causing large vibrations within the car and
potentially damage the vehicle

●​ As well as this it would be very uncomfortable for the

passengers and the driver could lose control of the vehicle

This energy is absorbed by shock absorbers.

These are elastic objects designed to absorb or dampen

the compression and rebound of the spring above a
vehicle’s tires.

They keep the tires on the road at all times.

How Shock When a vehicle hits a bump in the road, the shock absorbers
Absorbers Work dampen the movement of the springs in the suspension system.

●​ They do this by converting kinetic energy, from the

movement of the car, into thermal energy which is
dissipated.
 ●​ The faster the springs in the suspension system move (the
vehicle hits a bump at high velocity), the more resistance
the shock absorber provides.

4.8.1 The Young Modulus

Young Modulus The measure of the ability of a material to withstand changes in

length with an added load.

●​ This gives information about the stiffness of a material

●​ This is useful for engineers to make sure the materials they
are using can withstand sufficient forces

Since strain is dimensionless, the units of the Young Modulus is

pascals (Pa)

Young Modulus From ●​ The young modulus is equal to the gradient of a

Stress-Strain Graphs stress-strain graph when it is linear
○​ Region in which Hooke’s Law is obeyed.
●​ The area under the graph in this region is equal to the
energy stored per unit volume of the material.