Hooke's Law

What is Hooke's Law?

Within the elastic limit, deformation is directly proportional to applied load: σ = Eε. Push past the proportional limit and the relationship breaks down as the material begins to deform permanently instead of springing back.

The five clues

Engineerdle #11 described Hooke's Law with five clues, revealed one at a time from hardest to most direct. Each clue points at a different property of the concept.

1. 01First published as an anagram, to claim priority without revealing the result.
2. 02It holds only in the elastic region, up to the proportional limit.
3. 03It's the basis of every spring constant you've ever used.
4. 04Stress is proportional to strain via Young's modulus.
5. 05Named after the 17th-century English polymath who feuded with Newton.