A History of Elasticity
Man has, since the early times, found out how useful elastic
materials are. And today's man has improved on this idea and
constantly finds ways to make more elastic materials to suit his
everyday needs.
Elasticity refers to the property of an object to deform when
load is applied to it, and to return to its natural form when
the load is relieved. Many of the everyday things you see around
you are elastic materials: rubber bands, sports balls,
slingshots, bows, and even bungees!
>From the earliest days, man found out that certain objects would
'spring' back to its original shape if pressure to deform the
object was removed.
At first, this sort of annoyed him since the most common things
that showed this property were animal parts which he ate.
Somewhere between inventing fire and creating the wheel, he
thought, "Hmm, maybe I could use this for something."
Thus was born the first elastic strings made of animal gut to
hold stuff together. As time passed by, man found out that these
elastic strings made from animal gut could be used as a weapon.
When a projectile was loaded in to these elastic strings, they
were propelled through the air at great speeds. Thus was born
the bow and arrow.
Rubber is one of the more popular elastic materials around. Many
products derived from rubber are bounced around, stretched, and
pounded - and they come back to shape.
Because of this property, many people find diversified reasons
to love rubber. If people were to use rigid materials, those
objects would break, or get deformed. And for some objects
deformity equates to unusability.
Rubber was used by the Early American Indians before Columbus
even set foot on the Americas. They called the substance
Caoutchouc, which comes from the word cahuhchu - meaning weeping
wood. This substance came from the sap of the rubber tree.
At first the westerners found out that this substance could be
used to rub out pencil stains. Therefore, it was called rubber -
to commemorate its glorious ability to rub.
Other elastic materials have varied uses in today's world.
Rubber is used for tires, elastic bands, and other 'bouncy'
objects. Coiled spring is used for suspensions, and
spring-loaded applications. They are even used in variable sized
sheathings.
The most common example of this is the condom. Elastic materials
are commonly used on clothing to provide a comfortable fit on
people. They are also useful in cases where you need watertight
equipment.
Elastic materials are also handy in creating cushioning
materials: tires, soles for shoes, for cars, for beddings and
other uses. These applications require materials that will
protect the user from sudden shock. Elastic materials absorb the
energy and disperse them in a non-traumatic manner for cushions.
These materials are also used in sports. Insulated, elastic
balls are integral to many sports because non-elastic balls
would deform when used. Basketballs, volleyballs, and soccer
balls have to be elastic to allow them to return to their normal
shape after being subject to load and trauma.
There seems to be no sure hint that the use of elastic materials
will abate. There will constantly be use for these sort of
materials. As man steadily finds ways to make use of these
wonders, he also steadily finds better ways to create more
elastic materials.