Question

Why is Young's modulus important?

Answer 1

Here, we are asked why Young’s modulus is important. First of all, what you need to do is consider the definition of the Young’s modulus and try to figure out what it is. Whenever a material is given to you, you firstly check its strength, whether the material can bend and stretch easily or not, if yes, then to what extent it can bend and stretch. All these things are to be considered in order to answer this question.

Complete answer:
Young’s modulus is basically a constant which varies from material to material. The Young’s modulus measures the ability of a material to withstand any changes in length or say size, if the object made by that material is under tension or compression. It is also known as modulus of elasticity.

Young’s modulus gives you the stiffness of the material, telling you to what extent you can bend or stretch the material. For small values of strain, the materials obey Hooke’s law. The ratio of stress and strain is constant for most materials. This ratio is known as the Young’s modulus or modulus of rigidity.

So, Young’s modulus is an important property of a material because it gives the relationship between stress and strain. As far as engineering is concerned, it is used to calculate the thickness of the material to withstand a certain amount of stress for a given load.

Note: You need to remember that the Young’s Modulus is defined as the ratio of stress and strain. It is a constant which varies from material to material, that is, material specific. Also keep in mind that stress is basically force per unit area and strain is measured in terms of the change in length divided by the original length.