The two properties together describe a solid about as well as you can reasonably expect two figures to do. Gordon summarizes these ideas succinctly.Ī biscuit is stiff but weak, steel is stiff and strong, nylon is flexible and strong, raspberry jelly is flexible and weak. Strength measures how much stress a material can withstand before failing. Stiffness describes how much a material lengthens when pulled (that is, strains when stressed), and is quantified by its Young’s modulus. In Chapter 1 of Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology, Russ Hobbie and I discuss two mechanical properties of a material: stiffness and strength. Recently, I reread Structures and read for the first time its sequel The New Science of Strong Materials: Or Why You Don’t Fall Through the Floor. It showed me to how engineers think about mechanics. When I was in graduate school, I read a fascinating book by James Gordon titled Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down. Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down,
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