Editing Young's modulus (section)

{{Short description|Mechanical property that measures stiffness of a solid material}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2017}}
[[File:Stress strain ductile.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Young's modulus is the slope of the linear part of the [[stress–strain curve]] for a material under tension or compression.]]

'''Young's modulus''' (or the '''Young modulus''') is a mechanical property of solid materials that measures the tensile or compressive [[stiffness]] when the force is applied lengthwise. It is the [[modulus of elasticity]] for [[Tension (physics)|tension]] or axial [[Compression (physics)|compression]]. Young's modulus is defined as the ratio of the [[stress (mechanics)|stress]] (force per unit area) applied to the object and the resulting axial [[strain (mechanics)|strain]] (displacement or deformation) in the [[linear elasticity|linear elastic]] region of the material.

Although Young's modulus is named after the 19th-century British scientist [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]], the concept was developed in 1727 by [[Leonhard Euler]]. The first experiments that used the concept of Young's modulus in its modern form were performed by the Italian scientist [[Giordano Riccati]] in 1782, pre-dating Young's work by 25 years.<ref>''The Rational mechanics of Flexible or Elastic Bodies, 1638–1788'': Introduction to Leonhardi Euleri Opera Omnia, vol. X and XI, Seriei Secundae.  Orell Fussli.</ref>  The term modulus is derived from the [[Latin]] [[Root (linguistics)|root term]] ''[[wiktionary:modus|modus]]'', which means ''measure''.