What type of stress occurs during pulling/stretching?

• A. Tension
• B. Compression
• C. Shear
• D. Torsion

Answer: (A)

When you pull or stretch a material, the internal forces resisting that action are tensile stress. Tensile stress is a normal stress that acts along the length of the material and tends to elongate it, pulling particles apart along the axis. You can see this in a rope or a cable under load—they lengthen as they are stretched. This is different from compression, where the load pushes ends toward each other and shortens the member; from shear, where forces act parallel to a plane and cause layers to slide past one another; and from torsion, which twists the material around its axis. So pulling or stretching produces tension.