🔍 Key Concepts

• Definition of tensile strength in basic mechanics of materials • Difference between tension, compression, shear, and bending loads • How a material behaves when it is pulled apart versus pushed together or slid sideways

💭 Think About

• Which type of stress is involved when you try to pull both ends of a metal bar away from each other until it breaks? • For each choice, picture a simple real‑world example (like pressing, pulling, cutting, or bending) and match it to the word used in the option. • Ask yourself: when ship’s gear or mooring lines are being tested for strength on a tensile test machine, are they being squeezed, bent, sheared, or stretched?

✅ Before You Answer

• Be clear on the meaning of tension: is it a pulling or pushing action? • Confirm that compression is the opposite of tension and therefore cannot be the same as tensile strength. • Distinguish shearing (sliding layers past each other) and bending (curving) from the specific action associated with tensile strength.