or elastic constant
In materials science and physical metallurgy , any of various numbers that quantify the response of a material to elastic or springy deflection.
When tensile stress is applied to a material, the resulting strain is determined by Young's modulus (see Thomas Young ), a constant defined as the ratio of the stress in a body to the corresponding strain . It has dimensions of (force)/(length) 2 and is measured in units such as the pascal or newton per square meter (1 Pa = 1 N/m 2 ), dyne/cm 2 , or lbs per sq in. (psi). See also elasticity .