Tension

noun

A pulling force along a length of something. A rope has tension when someone is pulling on both ends. Engineers have to make sure things under tension — cables, chains, bridge supports — can handle the load without snapping.

Civil & Structural Engineering — Monty
Go Deeper For parents & teachers
A force that acts to stretch a material along its length, measured in newtons. Tension is the opposite of compression. Materials respond very differently to the two: steel handles both well and is the foundation of most modern construction; concrete is strong in compression but weak in tension, which is why reinforced concrete embeds steel bars where the tensile forces are expected.

Appears In

The Burning Mountain Chapter 10 — Bridge of Nerves

"… don't rebuild the whole crossing tonight. We give it a stronger skeleton. Tension lines. Side braces. Load rules. Tower frames on both ends. Like adding nerves …"

The Burning Mountain Chapter 10 — Bridge of Nerves

"Axel pointed beneath the deck. "Cross-brace here, here, and here. Then tension lines from the approach frames. If the deck wants to wander, we remind …"

The Burning Mountain Chapter 10 — Bridge of Nerves

"Then came the sound no bridge-builder ever wants to hear: a sharp metallic ping from the left upper tension line."

The Burning Mountain Chapter 15 — Fire, Steam, and Signal

"… almost a full foreleg's depth, twisting the rails into a slant. One tension cable sang under impossible strain. Another had gone slack and lashed in the …"

See Also

Load Pressure Span