Which term describes the metal's internal resistance to shape change when an external load is applied?

Study for the Machinery Repairman Test. Enhance skills with comprehensive questions, detailed hints, and insightful explanations. Dominate your exam!

Think of the material's response to an applied load in terms of internal forces that oppose that load. This internal resistance, measured as force per unit area inside the material, is what we call stress. It’s the material’s internal pushback against the external pull, push, or twist. Strain is the actual deformation that results from that load, not the resisting force itself. Elasticity describes how much a material will deform under stress and whether it returns to its original shape after the load is removed. Strength is about how much stress the material can withstand before it fails. So the term that fits “the metal's internal resistance to shape change when an external load is applied” is stress.