Types of Force

When building mechanical systems, the materials and components we use experience specific types of stress caused by forces.

These forces are:

• Tension: Caused by pulling force, such as in a rope or a cable under load.
• Compression: Caused by a pushing or squashing force, such as a car sitting on its springs or a table leg supporting weight.
• Bending: A combination of tension and compression caused by forces acting in opposite directions, such as a shelf bending under weight.
• Torsion: Caused by a twisting force, such as when you turn a screwdriver.
• Shear: Caused by a force that causes layers of an object to slide past each other, such as when scissors cut through paper.