Tensile Stress is defined as which of the following?

• A. Pulls and stretches the material.
• B. Pushes the material together.
• C. Breaks the material by sliding over surfaces.
• D. Causes twisting.

Answer: (A)

Tensile stress is the internal force per unit area that occurs when a material is pulled along its length, causing it to stretch. When you pull on something like a rope or a rod, the material resists that pull by sustaining tensile stress, which leads to elongation. This idea is different from pushing forces (compression), forces that cause layers to slide past one another (shear), or twisting forces (torsion). So describing tensile stress as something that pulls and stretches the material best fits what happens to the material under that kind of load.