What is the difference between Stress and Strain?

There are many correct answers to this question, as there are many differences between stress and strain. One thing they have in common is that they are both associated with the field of physics. Another thing they have in common is that they both involve change.

Stress is change to a body or an object. The strain is the change that happens to the shape of the object or body. Strain needs stress to occur, but stress can happen without any strain. Another difference between them is that strain is unable to be measured, but stress can and has a unit of measurement.

Physics is one of the fields in science that deals with the physical phenomenon around man, that is matter and its behaviors through space and time. Physics involves the study of several forces such as stress and the deformation it can cause to objects, which can be referred to as strain. The word stress etymologized from the middle English word ‘destresse’, which means ‘distress’. It also derives its meaning from the Latin word ‘strictus’, meaning ‘to draw tight’, and the Old French word ‘estrece’, which means ‘narrowness’ or oppression’.

Stress is the amount of force or tension exerted per area of a particular object. The occurrence of stress can produce strain, that means strain cannot occur without force. Stress has the ability to cause change in a physical body. On the other hand, strain, which is derived from the Latin word ‘stringere’, meaning ‘to tightly bind’, and the old French word ‘estrein’, meaning ‘to press together’ is the alteration in form or shape of an object after the application of stress.

Stress and strain are both physical properties of a material or body part that when it is put under pressure or weight is applied. It can become deformed, crushed, or broken. A strain occurs when the material or body part is impaired from overuse or overexertion.

For the body, it would be an injury from lifting something too heavy and putting abnormal tension, which can tear tissue and ligaments. Whereas in the case of a building, there could be cracking or tilting due to the stress of uneven weight or not enough structural integrity to hold the weight.

Used in physics, stress is defined as a force that becomes the cause of change in a physical body. This change produces tension, which causes the body to deform. Also used in physics, strain is the change that occurs to an object when stress occurs.

The object can change in either form or shape. The forces that cause the body to deform are strains. Stress can happen without any strain, but strain can only exist with stress. Another difference between them comes in measuring. Strain is unable to be measured, but stress can. It even has its own unit of measurement.