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stress, in physical sciences and engineering, force per unit area within materials that arises from externally applied forces, uneven heating, or permanent deformation and that permits an accurate description and prediction of elastic, plastic, and fluid behaviour. A stress is expressed as a quotient of a force divided by an area.
There are many kinds of stress. Normal stress arises from forces that are perpendicular to a cross-sectional area of the material, whereas shear stress arises from forces that are parallel to, and lie in, the plane of the cross-sectional area. If a bar having a cross-sectional area of 4 square inches (26 square cm) is pulled lengthwise by a force of 40,000 pounds (180,000 newtons) at each end, the normal stress within the bar is equal to 40,000 pounds divided by 4 square inches, or 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi; 7,000 newtons per square cm). This specific normal stress that results from tension is called tensile stress. If the two forces are reversed, so as to compress the bar along its length, the normal stress is called compressive stress. If the forces are everywhere perpendicular to all surfaces of a material, as in the case of an object immersed in a fluid that may be compressed itself, the normal stress is called hydrostatic pressure, or simply pressure. The stress beneath the Earth’s surface that compresses rock bodies to great densities is called lithostatic pressure.
Shear stress in solids results from actions such as twisting a metal bar about a longitudinal axis as in tightening a screw. Shear stress in fluids results from actions such as the flow of liquids and gases through pipes, the sliding of a metal surface over a liquid lubricant, and the passage of an airplane through air. Shear stresses, however small, applied to true fluids produce continuous deformation or flow as layers of the fluid move over each other at different velocities like individual cards in a deck of cards that is spread. For shear stress, see also shear modulus.
Reaction to stresses within elastic solids causes them to return to their original shape when the applied forces are removed. Yield stress, marking the transition from elastic to plastic behaviour, is the minimum stress at which a solid will undergo permanent deformation or plastic flow without a significant increase in the load or external force. The Earth shows an elastic response to the stresses caused by earthquakes in the way it propagates seismic waves, whereas it undergoes plastic deformation beneath the surface under great lithostatic pressure.
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