ERIC Number: EJ936766
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-May
Pages: 2
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
A Simple Experiment to Demonstrate the Effects of Cracks on Materials Strength
Sauls, Frederick C.
Journal of Chemical Education, v88 n5 p607-608 May 2011
A simple in-class experiment was designed to expose students to an aspect of materials science dealing with defects. Students break a series of paper strips to gauge the breaking strength. A precut transverse "crack" weakens the paper strip by a surprising amount. Adding a precut "crack stopper" greatly reduces the effect of the original "crack". The observations are explained by the stress lines in the paper strips. (Contains 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Chemistry, Science Experiments, Scientific Principles, College Science, Secondary School Science, Science Instruction
Division of Chemical Education, Inc and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: High Schools; Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A