The following values are stipulated arithmetic inputs, not measurements of a material. Take and lengths , . At forces , stipulate crosshead displacements
The two different initial offsets deliberately test the use of intercepts. Linear regression of gives , and
Their reciprocal spring constants are and . The compliance-versus-length slope is
so the recovered Young's modulus and machine compliance are
The corresponding apparatus spring constant is .
Figure 1.
Stipulated displacement fits separate length-dependent compliance from apparatus compliance
. Original calculated example, not experimental material data. Left: independent linear displacement fits at lengths 50 and 100 millimetres retain their different offsets. Right: the line through the two compliance values has slope 1/(EA0) and intercept Cm. The dashed segment extrapolates the model to zero length; it is not a third observation. Details.
Check the reconstruction at . The machine contribution is , and the two specimen contributions are and . Adding the respective offsets gives the stipulated and . An extensometer spanning on either ideal uniform specimen would instead read extension: engineering strain , at engineering stress . Their ratio is again . Ignoring machine compliance gives apparent moduli and even after removing the offsets. No yield point or real material identity is implied by these stipulated linear inputs.
The interpolation links chain extension to entropic tensile force, with contour length and persistence length . Small extension gives spring constant ; near the force stiffens as . The divergence assumes an inextensible backbone and is not a physical infinite tensile force. A branch fit estimates available contour and flexibility, not an unfolding activation barrier by itself.
Young's modulus Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-18
Young's modulus is the ratio of axial stress to axial strain in uniaxial linear elasticity. For an isotropic plate, the bending rigidity is , with thickness and Poisson's ratio .
A tensile modulus experiment asks how much a specimen stretches under an axial force, while allowing its sides to contract freely. For initial cross-sectional area and an extensometer spanning initial gauge length , define engineering stress and engineering strain . In the proportional range,
The ratio agrees with this derivative when the line passes through the unloaded origin. A fitted offset should not be mistaken for a material property. Young's modulus has units of pressure: . By contrast, the spring constant of a uniform tensile specimen of length is , with units . Two rods made of the same material can therefore have very different spring constants while sharing Young's modulus.
The normalization removes a useful geometrical ambiguity: doubling doubles the extension at a given force, whereas doubling halves it. For a round specimen ; for a rectangular one , using initial diameter , width and thickness . Diameter error matters twice at first order: . Specify material direction, temperature and loading rate when comparing Young's modulus. Lateral restraint changes the stress state and can prevent this experiment from measuring the uniaxial modulus.
The name commemorates Thomas Young, whose formulation of a measure of elasticity is recorded by the Royal Society. This attribution alone does not establish priority for every modern definition or experimental method.[ref]